Nelson School Time Capsule Opened

The Lacombe and District Historical Society has officially unveiled the 1957 Time Capsule from the old Nelson School.

The time capsule was recovered during the demolition of the old school to make way for a brand-new building for Father Lacombe Catholic School. Overall, the time capsule was left in pretty good shape.  

“The box had been damaged during removal by the school. A few of the documents inside did get ripped during this process (a jack-hammer was used). The photographs inside it had curled over the years as well, but everything else that was inside the time capsule was either metal or paper, which allowed for it to be stored flat,” said Melissa Blunden, Executive Director of the Lacombe and District Historical Society.  

It was unveiled during the Central Alberta Heritage Fair in front of more than 150 children. The time capsule contained coinage dated 1896, 1937 Coronation pins, a John Scale photograph of Premier Rutherford laying the cornerstone of the first Nelson School, a Social Credit ‘Prosperity Certficate’, a 1907 Western Globe issue and more.  

The Historical Society will be providing a blogpost with more information about each individual item, but Blunden said there were a few items of note.  

“Nothing is overly surprising as we knew based on the articles in the 1957 newspaper what to expect from the time capsule; however, we were thrilled to find a copy of the Western Globe from August 1907, one of the issues we are missing. We hoped there would be at least one issue we were missing,” said Blunden.  

The Western Globe newspaper was later named the Lacombe Globe. Although the museum has a substantial collection of the Globe, Blunden says there are a couple of years that are missing.  

“The oldest copy of the Western Globe we have is April 30, 1907. We are missing about 50 per cent of that year, and the entirety of 1908. We are also missing in full the Post-War era (1921, 1922, 1924, 1925, 1927). There are a few other years where an issue or two are missing as well,” explained Blunden.  

You can view the Western Globe collections by clicking this link. 

The time capsule will be on display at the Flatiron Building Museum once all of the items have been catalogued. The exhibition, Country halls, Community Hubs is currently on display at the museum. 

- Story and Photos Courtesy of Amie Macinnis and Sunny 94/Lacombe Online
 

Nelson School Time Capsule