Time will tell: Capsule containing centennial memorabilia interred in LKSC
BY STEPHANIE PAPPAS
David Stevenson, Kathy Gillam and Marcia Cohen make remarks at the time capsule placement on Aug. 19.
One hundred and one years after it was founded and 50 years after it moved from San Francisco to Palo Alto, the School of Medicine celebrated its connection to the past with a message to the future: a time capsule.
The Centennial Time Capsule—a compact silver box filled with donated items from faculty, students, staff and emeriti—was interred Aug. 19 in the floor of a classroom in the Li Ka Shing Center for Learning and Knowledge, now under construction. Once the classroom is completed, a plaque on the back wall will mark the time capsule’s resting place under the raised auditorium floor. If all goes well, said Kathy Gillam, senior advisor to the dean, members of the class of 2008 will open the capsule at their 50th alumni reunion in 2058.
Facilities workers place the capsule in the LKSC.
Items for the capsule were collected in spring 2008 during the school’s centennial celebration. The approximately 90-pound box contains pipettes, medical textbooks, news articles about Stanford research and centennial memorabilia such as a lapel pin and guest book. Other items include the Nov. 5, 2008, New York Times announcing Barack Obama as president, a Stanford campus map and an issue of Rolling Stone magazine with actor Orlando Bloom on the cover, signed by Stanford medical students. Perhaps more likely to perplex future generations are such items as a pair of rhinestone-studded sunglasses, a plastic card for 10 free songs on iTunes and a card for a complimentary beverage at Peet’s Coffee & Tea.
The capsule was placed at a brief ceremony attended by faculty and staff. Vice dean David Stevenson, MD, the Harold K. Faber professor of pediatrics, welcomed the small crowd to the unfinished classroom. Gillam thanked dean’s office project manager Kristin Goldthorpe for her work in collecting and packing the objects into the shiny silver box.
“We’re sending a message to the future,” Gillam said. “And we’re hoping that they will be amazed and pleased at the snippet of ourselves that we’re sending to them.”
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Senior associate dean for finance and administration Marcia Cohen concluded the ceremony by expressing her wish that her successor will be present at the ceremony to open the capsule in 50 years. A small access door is being built to prevent future generations from having to tear up the floor to reach the capsule.
Stephanie Pappas is a science-writing intern for the Office of Communication & Public Affairs.
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