When the time capsule in commemoration of the school’s centennial was buried yesterday, university administrators made sure it would be easier to find than a 1960 time capsule whose whereabouts is a subject of some speculation.

The 2010 time capsule was lowered into the ground at Risman Plaza by President Lefton and will be dug up and examined in 2060.

In order to make sure people can find the time capsule 50 years from now, the university is marking the spot of the burial, so people can find the time capsule in the future unlike its (some say mythical) 1960 predecessor.

Pamela Jones, academic program and student development coordinator, worked on the Centennial Planning Committee and recruited three students to look into the whereabouts of the 1960 time capsule.

“You all saw where it is buried, so when you get calls 20, 30 or 40 years from now, you can tell them where it is at,” Jones said.

The time capsule contains a wide array of artifacts including some student publications, including copies of the Daily Kent Stater, a cell phone, Kent State athletic jerseys, a laptop, a home pregnancy test and a personal letter from President Lefton.

The three students who worked to explore what happened to the 1960 time capsule were recent graduates Kristine Gill, Evan Verub and Zachary Mikrut, who started the search in their sophomore year.

The search first began when Jones was reading “The Years of Youth” by former Kent State professor and Miami University President Phillip Shriver, a book that documents the first 50 years of Kent State.

There is some reference in the book to a time capsule that was buried in 1960 for the semi-centennial, Gill said.

Gill, Verub and Mikrut went through the Special Collections and Archives in the library to look through semi-centennial meeting minutes and other documents, Gill said.

“In one of the meeting minutes it said that they were planning to bury a time capsule in the Music and Speech cornerstone, which was being built at the time,” Gill said.

One of the architects told Gill there was no record of a time capsule located in the Music and Speech Center, but they continued to contact alumni to get information on where the burial might be. They were unable to get a clear location for the time capsule.

Emily Vincent, director of university media relations, said she has heard accounts from alumni on where they think the 1960 time capsule was buried, but said no records indicating a location of the time capsule have been found. However, the group of three students did find some more references to it in archived copies of The Daily Kent Stater.

“Going through the articles there are mentions of the time capsule, but at a certain point in the coverage of the semi-centennial, the time capsule references stop,” Vincent said.

The most popular theory Vincent hears from alumni about the time capsule’s location is that it’s buried under the university seal by the Prentice Gate.

However, in 2008 when they moved Prentice Gate and were doing construction in the area, no time capsule was ever unearthed, Vincent said.

Another theory Vincent has heard is that it is buried under the Victory Bell in the commons near Taylor Hall.

Contact general assignment reporter Kyle Reynolds at [email protected].