Portland Post Office time capsule collection

Collection

Identifier: Coll. 4290

Staff Only

Scope and Content note

This collection contains items included in a time capsule box laid beneath the cornerstone of the Portland Post Office on May 6, 1868. Contents include papers, published reports and booklets, bound volumes, and newspapers documenting city, state, and national issues.

Dates

1850 - 1868

Access

Unrestricted

Copyright

Access to collections at Maine Historical Society is not an authorization to publish. Rights and reproduction requests may be submitted in writing to the MHS Image Services Coordinator or Research & Administrative Librarian, subject to format.

Administrative note

On July 4th and 5th, 1866, much of Portland, Maine burned in what would come to be known as the Great Fire. The city’s customs house and post office were among the nearly 2,000 buildings destroyed. A new marble Greek Revival building, designed by architect William Ralph Emerson (1833-1917), was soon built to house the city’s post office, custom house, and court house. In 1868, a copper time capsule box was placed beneath the building’s cornerstone, during a ceremony performed by the Grand Lodge of Maine on Wednesday, May 6, at 9:00 am. Enclosed in the box were records deemed illustrative of the moment in time, including national and state financial reports, city registers and histories, Maine annual reports, railway publications, and local newspapers. The box was removed when the building was demolished in 1965.

Extent

0.5 Linear Feet (1 box + 1 oversize folder)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Physical Location

Note that oversized folder is located in O.S. in numbered collections flat file drawer in 2nd floor compact storage.

Provenance

Gift of the U.S. General Services Administration (acc. no. 1999.231).

Separated Materials

The time capsule box and objects originally included as contents in the time capsule were separated and added to the MHS museum collection.

Box time capsule, 1868, 1999.231a
Silver plaque, 1866, 1999.231b
Miscellaneous coins, button, and metal fastener, 1999.231c

Processing note

Items arrived without an established order. The archivist created groups for housing and preservation purposes. Newspapers were unfolded and housed in an oversize folder filed in numbered collections flat file drawer in 2nd floor compact storage.

The time capsule box itself, along with a silver plaque and some miscellaneous coins, buttons, and a metal fastener were separated and added to the MHS museum collection. See separated material for object numbers.