Time capsule opened after 50 years, revealing JFK letter, phone book, Playboy magazine

MOBILE, Al.

Museum of Mobile Director David Alsobrook (left) and Museum of Mobile Curator of Exhibits Jacob Laurence roll an oil drum, which was encased in a time capsule Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2011.

When water seeped from the top a 50-year-old concrete time capsule turned on its side Wednesday morning, Oct. 12, 2011, a day after it had been unearthed at Ladd-Peebles Stadium, museum curators thought the contents might be a total wash. Turns out, though, that engineers who secured the hundreds of letters, newspapers, women's apparel from Metzgers and even an October issue of Playboy magazine did a bang up job keeping murky liquid from ruining much of the Mobile memorabilia. While a few items were soggy, hundreds of notes from area residents were dry to the touch. Museum workers, who called it miraculous, plan to preserve everything by freezing it in coming days. Plans call for creating an exhibit to be displayed at Mobile City Hall in coming months. 

The time capsule sat inside a 50-gallon drum that was sealed inside a 4-foot section of concrete pipe for the last 50 years.
It was dug up Tuesday at the behest of former Mobilian Dick Nelson, who lives now in Fort Lauderdale.
Nelson served as chairman of a Special Projects Committee set up by city leaders in 1960. With him on the committee were two men who are now deceased, Fred Delchamps and Dave Owen.
They were tasked with planning a 250th birthday celebration of Mobile’s relocation to its present site in 1711. Mobile was originally founded upriver at 27 Mile Bluff in 1702, but after years of flooding that settlement was abandoned.
David Berthaume, who Tuesday watched as the capsule was lifted out of the ground, looked on again Wednesday as workers wielding a sledgehammer broke off the top of the concrete pipe. Berthaume’s father, Arnold, was one of the chemical engineers who helped create the time capsule and seal it up half a century ago.

Museum of Mobile Director David Alsobrook (right) holds up a Mobile Press Register newspaper from 19761 as Museum of Mobile Curator of Exhibits Jacob Laurence opens a package Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2011. The artifacts were found in a time capsule, which was unearthed at Ladd-Peebles Stadium on Tuesday. The time capsule was buried in 1961.

As a small crowd gathered around the drum in a city-owned parking lot off Owens Street, a worker cut through an old lock with an electric saw. He then grabbed a crowbar to peel back the seal.
Two museum staff members pulled a plastic bag, the size of an oyster sack, from inside the drum. Smaller bags inside it were opened to reveal the letters — including one from President John F. Kennedy — and other historic memorabilia, such as a green-and-white decorative plate.
Berthaume had promised his father, who died two years ago, that he would see whether the capsule stood the test of time if it were ever unearthed in 2011. The retired engineer said he thought about leaving when he first spotted water leaking out.
Curiosity, though, and a sense of obligation to his father, kept him there. A few minutes later, as a stack of barely damp newspapers was pulled from a bag, Berthaume clenched his fist and grinned, exclaiming, “Yes!”