Contents revealed from time capsule found in base of controversial statue
ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — A flag, medallions, and letters are all among a collection of items that for nearly a century remained unseen and untouched- until now. The objects were recovered from a once sealed time capsule removed from the base of a controversial statue in Albany.
“There will be an opportunity for us to have a better understanding of what messages, and what things that those who placed this box here 98 years ago thought would be important for us to know today,” said Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan as she spoke to an audience in city hall.
The objects had been entombed inside a statute erected outside city hall in 1925. The monument was in honor of Major General Phillip Schuyler, a Capital Region Revolutionary War hero and slave owner. Calls to remove the statue due to its tainted history came to fruition over the weekend and former Assemblyman and historian Jack McEneny addressed its complicated history. “It has to be told in a proper context," said McEneny. "We can’t judge the 1700’s by the world we live in, in the 21st-century.”
Sheehan said a public listing published in the 1920’s indicated a time capsule was inside the statue's base. Haywanda Watson is one of the city employees credited with helping to dig it out. "Did you have to open that box up like a tuna can?” asked New10's Anya Tucker. “Yes,” said Watson.
Diane Shewchuk, director of the Albany Institute of History and Art, described some of the many items found in the box. "Some of the highlights in here, are well, an atlas. We talked about the atlas of Albany. There are letters from different dignitaries that were written to George Hawley." George Hawley was the wealthy man who commissioned the statue in honor of his wife. In the capsule he left a deed with specific instructions that a future mayor would be entrusted with the statue and the contents of the box. Hawley's words reading that he assumed that the mayor would not be a woman.
Sheehan read the deed aloud. “‘To be placed by him—'" adding "How cute." As the audience laughed, she went on reading, "'—In the custody of a historic society of the City of Albany, which in his judgment, shall be best fitted to use, and preserve the same.’”
Mayor Sheehan said the items will go to the Albany Institute of History and Art for an upcoming exhibit. There are no current plans for the statue itself, which is in storage.