Algonquin College students restore Stittsville school time capsules

In 1986, students at Stittsville Public School carefully sealed letters and mementoes in time capsules. Now, nearly four decades later, the contents are being examined, repaired and preserved by Algonquin College museum studies students.

The capsules were buried on school grounds to commemorate the passing of Halley’s Comet, with the plan that they would remain sealed until the comet returns in 2061. But last year, when construction began on the grounds of the former Stittsville Public School, now Frederick Banting Alternative High School, former students came together to recover the capsules.

They were unearthed and displayed at Frederick Banting Alternative High School, with former students and teachers in attendance. Inside were letters, documents, newspaper clippings, class photos, playing cards and other mementoes shedding light on what life was like in 1986’s Stittsville. There were even handwritten notes from students offering advice to future generations, such as “Don’t cut down all the trees” and “Love everyone, don’t fight.”

Much of the contents, however, had deteriorated, with water damage and mould covering many of the items. Algonquin museum studies students are now carefully cleaning, repairing and preserving these mementoes, over a five-week period.

The preservation process is very thorough due to the fragile condition of some of the papers. Preservation steps include dry surface cleaning, washing, and mending rips and tears.

“Right now, they’re in a wide variety of conditions,” said museum studies student Liam McCrorie. “Mine is not too bad, but I have a friend whose paper is literally encrusted in mould.”

“So far, we’ve been trying to get away with just erasing and using dry treatments, like sponges, trying to get rid of the graphite or the lead that’s on there,” said McCrorie. “This week we’re doing the water treatments, so it’s like washing it all off.”

McCrorie said the project has been a great learning opportunity for him and his peers.

“I’ve worked in a museum before, and now this is giving me the knowledge that I didn’t have when I worked there…I think that this is very valuable.”

Instructor Desideria Desjardins said the project is giving her students both practical experience as well as the chance to work with local history.

“We’re doing work for organizations that normally don’t have conservators working for them, and they don’t have the labour to do these kinds of things,” said Desjardins. “It also gives the students a chance to work on actual artifacts, so they get a feel for what they’ll be doing in the future. And it helps preserve history that otherwise wouldn’t survive.”

Normally, museum studies students work on items from the college’s teaching collection, so this is a rare opportunity to handle artifacts from the community.

Museum studies student Kieran Bingham, who was restoring some magazine clippings from the capsule, said the artifacts have given him a sense of what people would have been wearing day-to-day and what they found interesting at the time.

He was also struck by the concept of the letters being preserved in the capsule.

“Just the idea that someone put this letter away, having handwritten it themselves, and I was the first one who got to open the actual letter itself and see it,” said Bingham. “It really made me reflect on how different the world was when this was put in the ground versus now.”

Kathryn O’Malley, another student, described her personal connection to the project.

“I’ve been going to museums since I was six months old,” she said. “I am really loving a lot of the hands-on work that we are doing this semester.”

Among the recovered items are letters from local politicians, notes from former students and staff, and even a letter from former prime minister Brian Mulroney.

The final plan for the restored artifacts is still being determined, but they may eventually be reburied or put on display. Regardless of where they end up, they have offered a profound look into life in Stittsville in 1986 and a meaningful learning experience for museum studies students.