Issue date: 8/23/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Derrick Manuat

Media Credit: Derrick Manuat and Tony Patrico

When Darwin May walked through the Stratton Quadrangle in 1967, he happened upon some SIUE administrators placing together a time capsule. On impulse, May decided to write a note and place it inside the capsule, hoping that, 100 years from then, his great-great grandchildren would be there for the reopening.

Forty years later, May returned to SIUE as a guest of the university to unearth the capsule a little earlier than he expected as a preview to the 50th anniversary celebrations beginning in September.

A crowd of reporters, students and staff crushed around a small metal drum on a table Thursday in the Stratton Quadrangle, pressing just a bit too close for comfort in the 100-degree heat. Chancellor Vaughn Vandegrift stood in front of drum as a technician ignited a blowtorch to open the tightly sealed time capsule.

Amid the excitement, anticipation and bright noon sun, the lid was pried off to reveal a pile of slimy, smelly black gunk. The rank stench of dirt and mold wafted over the heads of the crowd, prompting those with more sensitive noses to take a few steps back.

So maybe the time capsule wasn't as tightly sealed as expected.

But coated under the unsavory goo, a precious cache of SIUE history waited. Vandegrift, May and Dixie Engleman, chair the 50th anniversary planning committee, donned yellow rubber kitchen gloves and delved into the mess to excavate a large binder filled with yellowing, muddy papers, a 1967 SIUE yearbook and a photo album.

Although the yearbook's cover was too wet to risk opening at the time, much of the binder's contents were still legible, including an old copy of The Alestle and a program for a labor institution dedication.

Perhaps the best-preserved item was the photo album. Once a thin coat of grime was wiped away from the 5x7 pictures, safe behind a plastic sheet, showed black and white images of a flautist, a graduation ceremony and a group of students at the 1966 Spring Festival.

"I was surprised the pictures looked so well," Vandegrift said.

And May's note? The letter could not be located amid the sludge or between the pages of the other books.

May, a 1968 alumnus now living in Indianapolis, Ind., said he couldn't remember what the note said, but he hoped it was something profound.

Although he was disappointed, May said he still enjoyed seeing the vast changes the campus has undergone over the years.

"It's good to visit a place where you were 40 years ago," May said. In 1967, May said Lovejoy Library and Peck Hall were the only two buildings on campus, as well as the Morris University Center, which was under construction at the time.

"(SIUE) was a real asset to the whole Metro East area," May said.

May also said he was proud to be associated with a school on the same level as historically elite universities such as Harvard and Stanford.

Vandegrift said the time capsule was a symbol of SIUE's history and the promise the future holds.

"For me, I'm excited (to see) where the university is going," Vandegrift said.

Engleman said the time capsule opening was a way to unofficially kick off the 50th anniversary and an appropriate way to honor the past.

"(The 50th anniversary) gives everyone the chance to appreciate where we've come from and where we're going," Engleman said.

The salvageable items from the time capsule will be displayed in Lovejoy Library. As for the next 50 years, Vandergrift said the SIUE of today will leave its own piece of 2007 for the future.

"We will be burying a 50th anniversary time capsule in April, and we'll make sure it's water tight," Vandegrift said with a laugh.

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