(Newser)
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If you’ve been waiting a century to dig into Foreign Relations of the United States, 1896, this is your lucky day. For everyone else, it’s kind of a letdown to learn that’s the title of the mystery red book unlocked from a 1901 time capsule in Boston last week. The book is something only a historian could love, although Boston’s historians aren’t that wowed by it and aren’t sure why it earned a spot in the box, reports the Boston Globe. The best guess? “We speculate that it was actually just used [as] a filler to fill space in the capsule so that everything was secure and did not move around,” says an official with the Bostonian Society.
Other stuff in the box, all of which was in decent condition, according to AP:
- A piece of wood from the original lion statue on the Old State House. The capsule had been placed in the head of the lion that replaced the wooden version
- Photographs and business cards of political and business leaders
- Copies of the the Globe and Herald newspapers
- A campaign button for the William McKinley-Teddy Roosevelt ticket
- A letter from Boston journalists to future readers; it has not been removed from its envelope yet
- Two nails, one from the Old State House and the other from Old South Church
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