EcoTarium unearths the Lion's share of history
WORCESTER — City residents Sunday received a message from the past in the form of a 40-year-old time capsule.
Buried in November 1982 by the Worcester Host Lions Club, under the EcoTarium's sundial — which the club actually sponsored — the capsule was opened on the 100th anniversary of the club's charter, with museum staff and club members' families present.
“For some, 40 years is not a long time, for others, it’s a whole lifetime ago,” said EcoTarium President and CEO Noreen Johnson Smith, who addressed the curious onlookers Sunday in a Facebook video of the event provided by the museum.
The Lions Club encased the capsule in concrete during the sundial's construction.
“This is an amazing part of all of our history,” said Lions Club Past District 33-A Governor Richard Ferrucci, who added that before the capsule was opened he had no idea what was in it.
The stone in front of the sundial was removed Sunday by three people using crowbars.
“If I was here 40 years ago, I might have done it a little differently than with concrete,” Ferrucci quipped.
Among the more than 100 items, such as newspapers, magazines, and personal pictures, was a letter from President Ronald Reagan to the Worcester Host Lions Club specifically for inclusion in the capsule.
"To be opened in the year 2022 on the occasion of the Worcester Post Lions Club 100th Anniversary, a message from the White House, President Ronald Reagan," Johnson Smith read aloud in the video.
The magazine and newspaper issues described what at the time was major news from science to politics — such as a Telegram & Gazette article headlined "Bob Dole wants a social security plan."
Current news could also be felt, as dollar bills taken out served as a reminder of rampant inflation. "I'm surprised they even put a dollar in there," said one little girl.
When Johnson Smith asked her what it was worth today, the girl replied, "I think probably like, a 10?"
There was one person present who knew at least one item that would be revealed. Megan Pesce, whose late father was a member of the Lions Club, said he placed a Native American piggy bank from Shawmut Bank in the capsule.
“I guess you weren’t supposed to know what was in it, but he told us he was taking it to put it in,” Pesce said with a chuckle. “I’m a little emotional, there are audio tapes here that he made for us.”
While most items were protected in plastic and tin foil, water damage required that some be left unopened and given the chance to dry before being read or examined. These will be stored at the EcoTarium, Johnson Smith said.
“Some of the advances in science that were documented in 1982, really so much has changed," Johnson Smith said, referring to theories that were proved and disproved since then and the technological advances of the information age.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: EcoTarium unearths the lion's share of history opening time capsule
