More than 130 years after a time capsule was deposited in the pedestal of a statue of the Confederate general Robert E Lee, and after one false start, conservators in Virginia were finally able to open the long sought-after box on Tuesday.
The 36lb copper container, deposited in 1887, was removed on Monday after it was found sitting in water in the remains of the pedestal.
In footage of the opening streamed live online from a state laboratory, Katherine Ridgway, Virginia’s archeological conservator, said she was “a little nervous”.
But although some of the contents of the time capsule were damp, Ridgway said they were “in pretty good shape, considering”, adding that officials had feared water could have turned the artefacts to “soup”.
First, officials found a button, a calling card, handwritten letters, damp copies of the political magazine Harper’s Weekly from 1865, Confederate banknotes and what experts believed to be a fragment from a shell from the battle of Fredericksburg.
Then, after sawing an additional section of the box in order to access items that had probably expanded and stuck together, they found a “very wet” Bible with an 1883 silver coin stuck to it, a Richmond directory, a guide to Richmond from 1881 and a Masonic symbol and flag, both carved in wood and wrapped in an envelope.
There was also an envelope labelled “badges of army northern Virginia”, several Minie balls (civil war bullets), a yellowed 1887 almanac, a book called “the minutiae of soldier life” containing a bookmark, a newspaper dated 2 January 1883, reports of the chamber of commerce for Richmond from 1886 and 1887 and several rubber bands.
The box did not appear to hold a rare and historically significant photo of Abraham Lincoln, taken after the 16th president was assassinated at the end of the civil war in 1865, that had been hoped for.
Conservators did find a printed image from Harper’s Weekly showing a figure grieving over Lincoln’s grave.
It was the second time in a month that experts opened a time capsule from the Lee pedestal. A box was discovered two weeks ago, generating excitement, but hours of examination suggested it was not the “official” capsule long known about, and was perhaps placed by someone involved with the construction.
The discovery of the second capsule completes a long search for the elusive item.
Virginia’s governor, Ralph Northam, ordered the enormous equestrian statue of Lee removed in 2020, amid global protests against institutional racism which were sparked by the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The statue was not removed until September, after a court cleared the way.
News accounts from the late 1800s detailed the placement of the official time capsule in the foundation of the pedestal, and imaging tests appeared to confirm its existence. But a lengthy search during the September statue removal came up empty. Earlier this month, Northam ordered the pedestal removed as well, and crews again started to search.
Northam’s office said the box discovered second underwent analysis on Monday. Its dimensions matched the size listed in the historical record and X-rays showed it appeared to include expected items.
Records maintained by the Library of Virginia suggest Richmond residents, organisations and businesses contributed about 60 objects to the capsule, including Confederate memorabilia. One line from a newspaper article also listed among the contents “picture of Lincoln lying in his coffin”, stoking years of speculation which ended on Tuesday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report