Allan Appel Photo
April 10, 1909 issue of the Reg referring to what the Admiral Foote Post 17 of the Grand Army of the Republic put in the time capsule.
A 6‑year-old guessed the containers hold a butterfly. A Parks Department worker saw a star shape in the x‑ray and guessed a badge.
They joined people on the Green at New Haven’s 375th birthday celebration Saturday guessing what might be inside two time capsules just discovered from the old Lincoln Oak tree that topped during Super Storm Sandy.
One expert didn’t need to guess completely. She had evidence of a general nature about the secret contents.
The expert, New Haven City Archivist Judith Schiff, came to the event armed with the literary evidence of what is likely contained in the two time capsules unearthed when the Lincoln Oak on the upper Green was toppled during last fall’s storm.
A photocopy of a New Haven Register (pictured) article dated April 10, 1909, itemized what Schiff called “typical items of the day” that were put in what the article calls the “copper box.”
The city is offering a secret prize to kids like Lisette Bustamante if they guess the contents of the time capsules.
The revelation didn’t dull the buzz about unenumerated contents. (Keep reading.)
Nor did it hinder the easygoing pleasures of hundreds of people who strolled the sun-washed Green at a 19th-century pace as they took in a long roster of dance, song, and other performances and activities the city organized surrounding the 375th birthday of our town.
At 1:30 p.m. about 50 meandered across the bright green grass to the upper Green to see the planting of an eight-year old white pin oak that high school students from the Sound School and Common Ground, under the arboreal tutoring of Urban Resources Initiative’s greens skills program, placed in the ground precisely where the 1909 Lincoln Oak fell during last October’s storm.
“I think it’s amazing to be part of history. This tree is going to be around for hundreds of years,” said Sound School senior Yesenia Cruz, as she wielded a shovel, along with Mayor John DeStefano, Third District Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, and Town Green Proprietor Drew Days.
DeLauro called the the still modestly proportioned tree “a mighty oak that reflects the strength of New Haven.”
Members of the public were invited to throw a shovel-full of dirt around the ball of the oak, but not to cover the root flare.
Then the buzz around the new oak rapidly became less horticultural and more historical.
Parks Department Deputy Director Christy Hass announced a prize for kids who could guess the contents of the Lincoln Oak’s copper tubes/ time capsules, X‑rays of which were on display at a tent on the lower Green. (Click here and here to read about the discover of the time capsules.)
“My mission is to remind people this is a cemetery,” said Rob Greenberg, who had placed 26 rubbings of tombstones behind Center Church; they included a father and child buried together who echoed the two skeletons found beneath the Lincoln oak, he said.
Meanwhile, historian Schiff brought the old Register article she’d found. It revealed at least in general terms the contents of the tubes.
“Under the tree was place a copper box, containing the history of the post, copies of the local papers, the report of the Lincoln day services here and many other articles that will be of interest if dug up centuries hence,” the Register reported.
Click here to read Schiff’s article about the tree in the current issue of the Yale Alumni Magazine.
The tubes are currently being examined at the Bioanthropology Research Institute at Quinnipiac University’s North Haven campus, under the supervision of State Archeologist Nick Bellantoni.
The guessing game is still fun because while the article reveals general several items sure to be in the tubes, it also contains that phrase: “… and many other articles that will be of interest if dug up centuries hence.” So there’s still a mystery to be revealed: Just what are the “many other articles” dug up by Sandy?
The X‑ray images gave hints: shapes of stars, clips, and staples
Staples were around in 1909? Yes, as early as 1870, said a passing historian.
Sabrina Bruno pointed out staples and what she thought Masonic shapes in the x-rays. Only kids are eligible for the prize for best guess.
Park department special projects staffer Sabrina Bruno organized the municipal guessing game for the pleasure of kids. She guessed that the “badge” shape might have Masonic significance, as many of the old Civil War soldiers in the Admiral Foote Post #17 of the Grand Army of the Republic, who did the time-capsuling, were Masons, she surmised.
Schiff said that while marking the centennial of Lincoln’s birth was a nationwide phenomenon, his birthday occurs in February, when it’s too cold to plant. So most communities, like New Haven, waited until the spring.
April 10 here in town to be exact. The day coincided with a local celebration of arbor day as well as the day the peace agreement was signed at Appomattox, ending the Civil War.
New Haveners had “fallen in love with Lincoln,” Schiff said, when he campaigned here in 1860, shortly after his famous speech at Cooper Union. He spoke for two hours at Union Hall, which was at Chapel and State.
“He expressed sympathy for unions and enslaved people” in a way that won local hearts, which was why the 1909 Lincoln planting was of special significance in town, she said.
Now the time capsules may reveal in more detail how that was expressed.
Tubes Up
The two tubes, which were described as looking like copper downspouts welded at each end, are going to be opened Monday morning at the Quinnipiac University lab, said Bob Lombardo, an adjunct professor of diagnostic imaging and a member of Bellantoni’s team.
Bruno said the opening is not open to the public because it’s a closed room, environmentally controlled out of regard for the effect on the paper and other objects in the tubes.
There yet may be a butterfly in them.
Drew Days checks out the Register story with Schiff.
Reburial Via Cell Phone
Days announced that when study has been completed on the skeletal remains, they will be reburied in a public ceremony with participation of the three churches on the Green.
Like historian Robert Greenberg, whose sleuthing led to the discovery of the capsules, Days reminded listeners that until 1800 the upper Green had been a cemetery.
The reburial will take some time this fall. He said the contents of the time capsule, whatever they turn out to be, are the property of the Proprietors of the Green. Where will they ultimately repose?
Although no decision has yet been made, “it made sense” that they should end up at the New Haven Museum.
He pronounced the day “fabulous” in part because “it continues the story” of New Haven, he added.
After she ceremonially placed a shovel of dirt on the new Lincoln Oak, Garden Club of New Haven President Susan Ehrenkranz said the club is close to finishing an audio tour of the Green.
When it is rolled out in about two weeks, the narration will be accessible from any cell phone when you call the number.
When you hold the phone to your ear, you’ll recognize the tour guide as native New Havener and most recently visiting as Hamlet, Paul Giamatti; Ehrenkranz said he take you through historical and horticultural highlights of the Green in a 30-minute cell phone journey.
Through a fund at the Greater New Haven Community Foundation, the Garden Club has for decades been maintaining and caring for the trees on the Green.
“They’ve been stewarding all the trees on the Green, especially the oaks,” said URI’s Chris Ozyck.
Now add to that the new Lincoln Oak.