Time Capsule Placed by Paul Revere Found

A time capsule placed by Paul Revere and Sam Adams, among others, when the US was just 19 years old was carefully removed from a cornerstone of the Massachusetts State House yesterday. The 1795 time capsule—rediscovered during building maintenance—is thought to contain objects such as coins from as far back as 1652, old newspapers, and the title page of the Massachusetts Colony records, reports the Boston Herald. It was originally made of cowhide, but its contents were transferred to a copper box during building repairs in 1855, and a few coins that officials at the time threw in for good luck fell out of the cornerstone yesterday.

Officials plan to X-ray the box this weekend and hope to open it next week, but it won't remain unburied permanently, the Boston Globe reports. Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin, who was on hand as the box saw daylight for the first time in more than 150 years, says that after the contents are inspected for damage, they will be placed back in the box and back in the State House cornerstone, which was removed as part of a water filtration project. Galvin says officials haven't decided whether to put some items from 2014 in the box when it's replaced. (More Paul Revere stories.)