WOBURN – The copper box inside the golden-colored lion atop of the old State House in Boston was removed at Skylight Studios on Salem Street but the carefully sealed packet inside the box was not opened today.
The contents, noted all the historical society people, including President Brian LeMay of the Bostonian Society, will have to be examined at another location “in a very careful setting.”
The contents could be revealed as early as Tuesday, said another historical society member.
The copper, 12-inch by 8-inch by 6-inch box had to have its top cut open by Woburn sculptor Robert Shure at his studios after Shure carefully removed the crown from lion and then reached into an opening to get the box.
Pres. LeMay said at the end, “It’s like a shoe box and we want to do what is right.” “It was there all along as we walked by,” he said of the Lion at the Old State House near Faneuil Hall. “As it all revolved, it is like all time capsules where one is transmitting information to future generations, along with a message.”
The Lion was actually at Skylight Studios in 1990 for refurbishing, however, it took a fiber optic camera to detect the box.
“It’s best to handle an archival collection in a clean and controlled environment,” noted LeMay on behalf of the Bostonian Society. “From the list of content, we anticipate that there are a few sealed letters and newspapers within the capsule. Newspapers would be from 1901 and could be highly acidic at this point and brittle to the touch and if the adhesive is still holding on the sealed letters, then we’ll need to figure out a way to open them while maintaining the integrity of the documents inside and the the envelopes they came in.”
In general, they all concurred, the documents are old and fragile and the process of extracting them from the capsule will need to be a slow and careful one.”
In turn, a titanium capsule was donated by RTI – Advanced Powder Materials from Burlington to take back to Boston.
Already, the Bostonian Society has also accepted one item for the new capsule i.e. a 2013 Boston Marathon medal from Greg Soutiea.
In short, they said, many of the plans are contingent on the condition of the documents. They will be scanned and or photographed and digital files will be used.
The entire process came at a very busy setting at Skylight Studios with Boston and national media present with over 80 writers, photographers and TV staff converging on the small box.
Sculptor Robert Shure, a Brooklyn native but a resident of Winnmere in Burlington until his move to Wilmington a few years ago, did his process much like a surgeon as he adorned a pair of white gloves and removed a band connecting a crown on the lion to its head. In turn, he delicately reached through the opening. It was then lowered by Shure to a weathered sculptor’s bench and Shure and his staff wrestled with hand cutters and a drill to open the front side of the box. The contents showed only a small packet in a white pouch to the right and a sealed packet to the left. No one touched either.
So what was so important in 1901?
The society first learned about the possible existence of the time capsule years ago from the great-great-granddaughter of a man who had worked on renovations to the Old State House. A 1901 article from the Boston Globe surfaced later, alluding to contents of a copper box “which will prove interesting when the box is opened many years hence.”
The box is believed to contain a variety of items including letters, newspaper clippings and political paraphernalia from the period, according to a group that operates a museum in the building.
While it’s hoped the box can be opened Thursday, it’s unlikely any documents inside would be removed or displayed immediately because of their fragile condition after 113 years, said Heather Leet, director of development for the Bostonian Society.
One of Boston’s most popular tourist attractions, the Old State House has a storied history. It was just outside the building that British regulars opened fire on a crowd of protesters in 1770, killing five people in what would become known as the Boston Massacre.
In the summer of 1776, the newly-signed Declaration of Independence was read for the first time to Bostonians from a balcony of the building, which would later go on to serve as the first seat of Massachusetts government.
Commodore Builders, a commercial construction management firm headquartered in Newton has been selected to perform the restoration work on the historic building. Joseph Albanese, CEO and President of the firm, served as the project manager for the last major restoration of the building, along with its sister site Faneuil Hall, over 20 years ago. “This project is personally very special to me,” commented Albanese, “not only because of its historic significance to the City of Boston, but because it represents a memorable milestone in my own career. I am honored to be back on the site and to play a role in preserving a precious icon that is synonymous with the history of this city.”
Funding for this project has been provided by the Massachusetts Cultural Facilities Fund, a program of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts administered through a collaborative arrangement between MassDevelopment and the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the Manton Foundation, Boston Duck Tours, the Shirley Shattuck Windsor Charitable Trust, the Society of Colonial Wars in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the Edward Ingersoll Browne Fund, and by several individual donors.
The Bostonian Society was established in 1881 to preserve the Old State House, colonial America’s most historic public building, and to explain how Boston gave rise to our country’s most powerful founding ideas. Since 2005, the Bostonian Society has raised over $4 million for the preservation and interpretation of the Old State House, on behalf of the city and the people of Boston. Each year, it spends over $400,000 to maintain the building and to keep it open it to the public.