NewsHillsborough County

Actions

Buried treasure! Local school digs up archaeological marvel while building new space for students

Time capsule from 1948 sheds interesting light on 2020
Posted at 6:46 PM, May 25, 2020
and last updated 2020-05-25 18:46:27-04

LUTZ, Fla. -- Learning Gate Community School in Lutz just unearthed buried treasure.

OK, it may not be gold doubloons exactly, but their prize is still super cool.

While building a new space for students on the former site of the First United Methodist Church, the school found a mysterious tin box in the rubble near the old sanctuary.

A construction worker brought it immediately to Michelle Mason, the school’s principal.

“Everybody just dropped everything!” she says. “We were dying to see what was in it!”

The box was a time capsule.

From 1948.

It contained a Bible, a book of hymns and various newspapers, many from Tampa.

“The comics are not politically correct,” says Mason.

That’s the truth. And much of the language is antiquated and thankfully out of favor.

But the changes in language show how far we’ve come — and how far we still have to go. (One article bemoans low pay for teachers. Sigh.)

Another headline really stands out, the world 72 years ago fighting, and eventually beating, a much different virus.

“New Links Found, May End Polio.”

“It’s amazing how similar things are,” says Mason. “History over time, it really doesn’t change all that much. It may have different people and different locations, but it’s really the same stories that keep on going.”

Learning Gate is discussing the best way to display the time capsule.