Tension and anticipation is visible in this 1979 crowd, watching as President Fred C. Davison scrapes away a layer of plaster cementing the time capsule into its niche.  Once free, the plaster-flecked metal box was opened, to reveal its treasures to a new century....

...but alas...



...the box proved insufficient to its task.

The stone containing the capsule fared much better than the capsule's contents and can be seen today on the south side of the Admininstration Building, just outside  the gate by the Owens fountain.

Inside were browned crumbles and clumps, with a few stray letters visible.    Moisture, air, the acidity of the documents and corrosion from box itself had combined to digest the "treasure".  Although the Columns article speaks optimistically of having a visiting expert in restoration examine  the items, this recovery obviously did not work out.  The capsule and its fragments can be visited today in University Archives in the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library.  Our suggestion, drawn from this tragedy, is that when the compulsion to "bury treasure" strikes you, don't bury it in the ground.  Contact the appropriate qualified archive and place it where it can best survive for current researchers and for those unknown researchers of the future. Click Here To Read More About How Archives Preserve Materials Better than Time Capsules Can. Click Here to see Treasures of  UGA's 1870's preserved in the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library Click here to see a scan of Larry Dendy's 1978 article on recovery of the 1872 capsule.

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