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The University of Maine’s chapter of Sigma Chi gathered Friday morning to dig up a time capsule buried by members of the fraternity in 1952. Current members and alumni of Sigma Chi examined the capsule’s contents Saturday after the Homecoming football game. The event signifies Sigma Chi’s 100th year as a part of UMaine.
The time capsule was buried in front of the Sigma Chi Heritage House, the fraternity’s former house, presently home to the Office of University Development, located across from Chadbourne Hall.
UMaine’s Facilities Management used a tractor, assisted by Sigma Chi brothers digging with shovels, to locate the time capsule.
“Some of the older guys wondered if we could get it up by hand, but things have changed since 50 years ago,” Chris Kelley, a senior and Sigma Chi’s treasurer, said.
A photograph taken on the day it was buried 50 years ago was the only map the brothers had in locating the time capsule.
“I felt very excited during the time while we were searching for the capsule,” Glenn Adams, a senior and Sigma Chi’s vice president, said. “When it came out of the ground and we saw that several items had been preserved, it was very moving, but overall everyone was very excited.”
It was important to Sigma Chi’s brothers to retrieve the time capsule during Homecoming weekend, so that many alumni would be able to attend the event.
“I expect this [was] one of our biggest homecomings since I’ve been a brother,” Kelley said. “We wanted to make this a big event, not everyone digs up a time capsule every day.”
The Class of ’52′s time capsule contained letters written by fraternity members and various items they thought would be interesting in 2002. These items included more than 20 pictures from the early 1900s, including pictures of the house, the house mother, and the sweetheart of ’52, pictures of brothers’ cars, a copy of the Bangor Daily News from April 17, 1952 and an old bottle of wine.
“This was about all that was recovered,” Adams said, “the rest was destroyed by water damage.”
About 40 alumni attended the opening of the time capsule.
“They were all very moved by the objects inside the capsule, especially the pictures of the cars that the brothers kept at the house,” Adams said. “We were all quite excited to see the turnout and to be able to see many of the brothers from the early 1950s having such a good time.”
“It’s going to blend everyone together. They’re all going to meet people they’ve never met before, both the original chapter and the active chapter,” Wood said.
Active members carried out the same tradition by creating their own time capsule.
“We [thought] it’d be a good idea to continue and it’ll be pretty amazing to see what was put in it and see how things changed,” Noah Michaud, senior Sigma Chi brother, said.
The brothers wrote letters to themselves stating what they are presently doing at UMaine, where they hope to be in 50 years and anything else they hoped to remember as a part of carrying on the tradition.
“It’s so in 50 years we can see how much has changed since we were in college, as well as [a reminder] of some things we may have forgotten about,” Adams said.
The active members of Sigma Chi also contributed items such as a newspaper, a CD, an old cell phone, batteries, pictures, a 2001 Rolling Stones yearbook and a first driver’s license.
The active brothers’ time capsule was buried in the same place as the original, except one foot higher to protect it from ground water that started to break down the old concrete. The new time capsule is made of plastic in hopes that it will experience less damage.
Most important to Sigma Chi was the idea of being a part of a tradition.
“A lot of Sigma Chi is built on tradition,” Kelley said. “[We're] just making history. This is all making history right here.”
