In Kansas City, Missouri, the National WWI Museum and Memorial uncovered a 100-year-old time capsule that held a letter from President Calvin Coolidge and newspapers.
Instructions to unlock the container in 100 years were left behind when the time capsule was interred in 1924 inside the Liberty Memorial Tower of the museum. The time capsule marked the dedication of the memorial.
During the summer, the museum removed the time capsule from the monument, a task made more difficult by the 18 inches of concrete and limestone.
The presence of nitrate film in the container, which is known to be extremely combustible, also made the extraction challenging, according to officials.
At a ceremony on Wednesday, the contents of the time capsule were unveiled. Among the items were newspapers, a Bible, a copy of the U.S. Declaration of War dated April 1917, and a copy of the U.S. Constitution.
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The box also included letters from Allied commanders who attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the Liberty Memorial in 1921, as well as one from President Calvin Coolidge.
An additional item in the time capsule was a printing plate from the Kansas City Star dated November 1, 1921.
Officials were unable to identify the individuals whose engraved autographs were found on the copper box, but they are thought to have been part of the crew that put the time capsule together.
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