100-Year Memories Safely Cocooned ... Until College Sesquicentennial

The final activities of Penn College's illustrious Centennial observance – the filling, sealing and installation of an institutional snapshot from that 2014 celebration – took place this week in a first-floor corner of Madigan Library. Various historical and commemorative items were loaded into the time capsule on Thursday, and the contents were sealed with argon gas the following day. On Wednesday morning, the high-grade, stainless steel container was maneuvered into a glass-block repository built by the School of Construction & Design Technologies. The time capsule and its archival treasure will remain undisturbed until reopened in 50 years. A montage of Centennial activities, colorfully and energetically composed from a year's worth of photos, has been incorporated into a video on the Penn College YouTube channel.

– Photos by Cindy Davis Meixel, writer/photo editor

Items representing the college's six academic schools are included in the capsule. Smyth holds a transit, sometimes referred to as a builder's level, used in the School of Construction & Design Technologies; Scott displays a piston and connecting rod from a 1996 Ford Crown Victoria engine, emblematic of the School of Transportation & Natural Resources Technologies.

Librarian Patricia A. Scott and Nathan D. Smyth, assistant dean of industrial, computing and engineering technologies – members of the Time Capsule Committee – load the stainless steel box.

Greek Life memorabilia is secured in an archival sleeve.

A note to the future on the contents of the time capsule

A glimpse inside at the items being layered into the time capsule

Marc E. Bridgens (right), dean of construction and design technologies, stops by to assess the glass-block work done by masonry students and faculty.

Thomas Marak, president of Time Capsules Inc., fills the container with argon gas. The time capsule manufacturer, located in Prospect, has provided containers and expert sealing services for the Kennedy Space Center, the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, the William J. Clinton Presidential Library, and the 400th anniversary commemorating the founding of Jamestown, Virginia, to name a few.

Preserving memories for safekeeping

Securely preparing for the heavy lifting ...

... required to jockey the box into its protective case.

President Davie Jane Gilmour snaps a keepsake.

The General Services crew undertakes a weighty task.

Their task complete: delivered, sealed and consigned to a 50-year repose