Students, staff and faculty are building a new time capsule to be opened in 2050

A lab coat from the chemistry department. Greek life mementos. Class rings.

These are among dozens of items reflecting the scene at Furman University in 1993 that were buried in a time capsule opened at a ceremony earlier this year to mark the school’s 200th anniversary.

Now students, faculty and staff alike are gathering items depicting campus life today to fill a new time capsule that will be opened in 2050, said Jane Nolan McBride ’91, P’26, associate director of alumni engagement.

“We are going to have a dedication ceremony on October 24, and have issued an invitation for all departments and student organizations to be able to place an item in our new time capsule,” she said. “It’s up to them what they put in, but it should all reflect what’s happening in 2026.”

The original time capsule was a concrete vault that was buried on Founder’s Day, April 14,1993, in front of the library with a plaque marking the location, she said.

When the grounds crew went to dig it up, they were forced to make several attempts before it was finally unearthed. In fact, a backhoe was needed – and even broke – because the vault weighed several hundred pounds, said Jeffrey Makala, associate director for special collections and university archivist for Furman University libraries, who cataloged all the contents.

“Nobody knew it would be a vault,” McBride explained, “but when they got it out of the ground and opened it up, it was not as water-proof or earth-proof as what was told to us in the early ’90s.”

“There was surface moisture on the documents. They were a little wet,” Makala added. “But we got everything out and there was no major damage.”

Among the more memorable items unearthed from the vault were VHS tapes of the Furman University Gospel Ensemble, multiple floppy discs and CD-ROMs, signed posters from student groups and a dorm essentials welcoming kit provided to first-years, he said.

Gwinn Kneeland ’89 introduces Greg Haselden ’94, a former Student Alumni Council member who was part of the group that buried a time capsule in 1993 on Furman’s campus. Photo by Nathan Gray, Furman University.

The original project was led by the Student Alumni Council, which is heading up the new time capsule as well, said Lauren Pollino ’23, advisor for the group.

“It was really neat to see such a tapestry of things represented by these different organizations,” she said of the 1993 contents. “And as an alum, it highlights the threads that tie us all together.”

The council has been reaching out to campus groups for objects to place in the new capsule, said Pollino, who recognized the contributions of students Carleigh Steel ’26 and Alyssa England ’27 to the project.

Between 50 and 100 culturally significant items will be included, such as a special edition of The Paladin that highlighted a campus party, she said. Also included will be a letter from the council dedicating the time capsule as well as a sealed letter to Furman’s future president from its current president, she said.

Meanwhile, Pollino has her own surprise for those who open the capsule 25 years from now. Because she enjoyed cryptology class as a student, she will be writing a letter and encrypting it with a cypher for someone to solve the next time the capsule is opened.

“I’m very excited about that,” she said. “I would love to be there when they open it. I hope I remember the cypher.”

McBride, who was on campus at the time of the original time capsule, said it was exciting to see some of the school’s history unearthed, but she never thought she’d be there for its exhumation.

And in an interesting twist, she added, her son just graduated from Furman in May, making the experience even more special.

“Did we really think we would be here at this time?” she asked. “I didn’t get it back in the ’90s. But looking back, I certainly appreciate the tradition of what Furman has created.”

The new time capsule will be placed in a sealed archival records box and housed in deep storage in the library’s special collection stacks with instructions to not open it until 2050, Makala said.

Those stacks are “the most secure place on campus,” he said, because they are equipped with alarms and environmental controls that keep the contents stored at 60 degrees and 45 percent humidity, minimizing the chance of damage over time.

The goal is to capture the bicentennial year from the opening convocation to Homecoming to the Clearly Furman campaign, which raised $505 million, Pollino said.

And it all will illustrate the connection between past and present, just like the original time capsule does, noting that some professors who offered items in 1993 are still there and can do it again in 2026.

“Whatever we put in the capsule will tell the story of Furman,” she said. “It will be a moment frozen in time.”