What’s Inside the Oldest Known Time Capsule in America?

On July 4, 1795 — the twentieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence — Massachusetts Governor Samuel Adams and master silversmith Paul Revere laid the cornerstone of the new Massachusetts State House in Boston. Into that cornerstone they sealed a small copper box containing coins, a commemorative medal bearing the likeness of George Washington, and a silver plaque engraved by Revere himself. For more than two centuries, this modest container has been recognized as the oldest known time capsule in the United States. Its contents open a window not only onto the founding era of the Republic, but also onto the complex, often painful relationship between the new American nation and the Indigenous peoples who were the first owners of this land.

The time capsule is a rare surviving object of early American material culture. To understand it fully, historians examine not only what was placed inside, but also what was left unsaid — the treaties broken, the nations displaced, and the parallel sovereignties that the new Republic was simultaneously negotiating with and undermining. The 1795 capsule belongs to that same decade as the Battle of Fallen Timbers and the Treaty of Greenville, events that reshaped the Ohio Country and Native sovereignty at the very moment Adams and Revere were burying their copper box.

The Historical Genesis of the 1795 Time Capsule

Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, and the Cornerstone Ceremony

After the Revolutionary War, Samuel Adams served as governor of Massachusetts and oversaw the construction of a new State House on Beacon Hill. The cornerstone ceremony of July 4, 1795 was a carefully staged civic ritual. Paul Revere — already famous for his 1775 midnight ride and respected as one of colonial America’s finest silversmiths — engraved a silver plaque commemorating the occasion. The plaque bore the names of Adams, Revere, and William Scollay, a Revolutionary War colonel and Boston property owner. Together, these objects transformed a construction event into a symbolic act of nation-building.

What the Original Box Contained

The original 1795 cache contained 11 coins, each chosen for its historic significance to the young nation. Among them was a 1665 Pine Tree Shilling, the first coin minted in colonial Massachusetts — struck in defiance of English royal authority, which reserved the right of coinage to the Crown. Another was a 1787 New Jersey cent, notable as the first American coin to bear the motto E Pluribus Unum (“Out of many, one”). A small medal depicting George Washington — then president — and Revere’s silver plaque completed the original deposit.

Materials, Craftsmanship, and the Material Culture of the Early Republic

The Copper Box and the Silversmith’s Art

The container itself is a simple copper box, but the plaque inside reflects the refined craftsmanship of Paul Revere’s Boston workshop. Revere’s silverwork is documented in museum collections including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The engraved plaque was produced in the same artisan tradition that produced colonial silver, and its survival for more than two centuries testifies to the durability of hand-wrought metals when properly preserved.

Native Material Culture in the Same Era

While Boston elites buried European-style coins and silver plaques, Native nations across the continent maintained their own traditions of crafted objects with diplomatic and ceremonial meaning. Perhaps no artifact better illustrates this than wampum — quahog and whelk shell beads woven into belts and strings that served as records of treaties, alliances, and sacred agreements. Where the Boston time capsule commemorated a cornerstone, wampum belts recorded the actual diplomatic commitments between sovereign nations. Both traditions encoded memory in durable materials; only one was routinely honored.

Unearthed: 1855 and 2014

The 1855 Rediscovery

In 1855, workers making emergency repairs to the State House foundation unearthed the copper box. Officials added 12 more coins, pages from five of Boston’s leading newspapers, and official state documents. The capsule was then resealed in plaster and remained untouched for nearly 160 years.

The 2014 Excavation and Museum Display

In 2014, an engineering firm was hired to repair water damage to the State House foundation. Before excavating, technicians used ground-penetrating radar to locate the capsule, whose existence had been documented in historical records. Conservators took seven hours to carefully extract the fragile copper box and transport it to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, where its remarkably well-preserved contents were placed on public display.

The capsule was reburied in 2015 beneath the State House cornerstone, along with two new additions: an engraved silver plate and a full set of 2015 United States Mint coins.

Historical Context & Key Cultural Takeaways

The 1795 time capsule is more than an antiquarian curiosity — it is a document of the early Republic’s self-definition. Several historical realities converge around it:

• Symbolic nation-building: Adams and Revere chose objects — coins, medals, silver — that expressed a new American identity at the exact moment the United States was defining itself against Britain and alongside Native nations.
• Parallel chronologies: In 1794–1795, the United States was fighting the Northwest Indian War; the Treaty of Greenville (1795) forced massive Native land cessions in the Ohio Country. The same year the capsule was buried, Native sovereignty was being dramatically curtailed.
• Material memory: Native peoples had their own long-standing systems for recording agreements — wampum belts, pictographic records, and oral traditions passed through generations. These systems carried legal and diplomatic weight that the new Republic often failed to honor.
• Preservation ethics: The careful 2014 excavation and museum display represent modern archival standards. They stand in contrast to the historical looting and grave-robbing of Native burial sites, a practice still legally and ethically contested today.
• Living legacy: The capsule reminds us that American history is layered. European-American commemoration and Native dispossession occurred in the same years, often in the same soil.

For researchers of Native and Indigenous history, the capsule is a useful anchor point: it dates to the same decade as the founding of the U.S. federal government, the beginning of treaty-making at scale, and the consolidation of policies that would drive removal in the following decades — from the Proclamation of 1763 onward.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the oldest known time capsule in America?

The copper box buried on July 4, 1795 beneath the cornerstone of the Massachusetts State House in Boston is widely recognized as the oldest known time capsule in the United States. It was created by Samuel Adams and Paul Revere and contained coins, a medal, and an engraved silver plaque.

What was inside the 1795 time capsule?

The original contents included 11 coins — the most historically significant being a 1665 Pine Tree Shilling and a 1787 New Jersey cent bearing the motto E Pluribus Unum — along with a commemorative medal depicting George Washington and a silver plaque engraved by Paul Revere. In 1855, 12 additional coins plus newspapers and state documents were added.

Who buried the time capsule?

Samuel Adams, then governor of Massachusetts, presided over the cornerstone ceremony. Paul Revere, the celebrated silversmith and Revolutionary War figure, engraved the silver plaque. William Scollay, a Revolutionary War colonel, is also named on the plaque.

When was it found and where is it kept?

It was first unearthed in 1855 during foundation repairs, and again in 2014 after ground-penetrating radar located it. The 2014 contents were conserved and displayed at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The capsule was reburied in 2015 with new additions.

Does this time capsule relate to Native American history?

Directly, no — the capsule was created by Euro-American leaders and contains European and early American artifacts. However, it dates to the same period as major treaties and conflicts involving Native nations, including the Treaty of Greenville (1795). Native peoples maintained their own commemorative and diplomatic traditions — most famously wampum belts — which functioned as legal records of treaty agreements. Placing the capsule in that broader context reveals the parallel sovereignties of the era.

How were Native artifacts recorded and preserved in the same era?

Native nations used wampum belts, oral tradition, pictographic records, and ceremonial objects to encode agreements and history. Unlike European archival practices, these systems did not rely on written documents. Their legitimacy was often ignored or diminished by colonial and federal officials, even as these systems carried binding diplomatic weight recognized by Native nations themselves.

Cultural Legacy and Modern Preservation

The 1795 time capsule endures as a remarkable artifact of early American civic memory. Its careful exhumation in 2014 and museum-quality conservation represent the best practices of modern archival stewardship. Yet its story sits beside a longer, harder history: the displacement of Native nations, the breaking of treaties, and the ongoing struggle for recognition of Indigenous sovereignty and cultural heritage. To read the capsule honestly is to read it alongside Native American rituals and ceremonies, treaty records, and material traditions that predate and parallel it. Both stories belong to American history. Only one has consistently been told.