Time capsule to be buried on Founder’s Day
[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/timecapsule2012.jpg” caption=”Menus from campus pubs The Phoenix and TwelvEighty, a 125th anniversary pin, tickets from the Vanier Cup and other items will be lowered into the ground Monday when a time capsule is buried between Edwards Hall and Alumni Memorial Hall. The capsule won’t be opened until the year 2062.”]Copies of The Silhouette, tickets from the 2011 Vanier Cup, aerial photos of campus –
these are just some of the items students, staff and faculty will pull out of the ground in
the year 2062.
That's when a time capsule being buried Monday will be dug up from its location
between Alumni Memorial Hall and Edwards Hall.
The capsule will be buried April 23 – the day in 1887 on which the bill uniting
Woodstock College and Toronto Baptist College into McMaster University received royal
assent – at an event kicking off the University's 125th anniversary celebrations.
Representatives from the senior class gift committee will bury the capsule, which will be
buried at the future site of a garden honouring the classes of 2010, 2011 and 2012.
The specially-made time capsule, which measures 12″ wide by 24″ long and will extend
18″ into the ground, will be covered with a plate inscribed with the words “Time Well
Spent”.
It will contain a number of items, including a CD of songs by performers who have
visited McMaster over the last four years, a 2012 penny and a copy of alumni rockers
Arkells' album, Jackson Square.
“McMaster means a lot to everyone who comes here,” said Meggie MacDougall, a
student-intern with McMaster's alumni advancement department which is organizing
the capsule burial. “It's a nice way to symbolize all of our years here. That's the
mentality of it, to leave a legacy.”
MacDougall said she plans to attend the opening of the box in 50 years.
“I'm excited that in 50 years we'll be able to return and see the items we put in and
relive our memories. McMaster will still mean the same thing to us then as it does now.”
The capsule will be buried at 12:30 p.m., and at 1 p.m. the community is invited into
the Student Centre for free cupcakes and coffee to celebrate McMaster's 125th
anniversary.
President Patrick Deane, the University's longest-serving faculty member Henry Jacek
and Students Union president Matt Dillon-Leitch will welcome guests and reflect on
McMaster throughout time.
Those who ordered 125th anniversary “treat-a-grams” through the alumni office can
pick them up before the event in the Student Centre.
More information on McMaster's 125th anniversary can be found at mcmaster125.ca.
