#KnowTheO: Time Capsules On Campus

Hidden across campus are stories waiting to be shared at a later date — time capsules filled and sealed off by classes of UNO past. The next time you're on campus, take a look around and think about what you would put in your own UNO time capsule.

Learn more about the capsules

• Dodge Campus Capsules
• Scott Campus Capsules
• The Opened Capsule

Dodge Campus Capsules

You may have walked past these capsules without even knowing it!

Near the Arts and Sciences Hall

In 1983, student Randy Regan came up with the idea of a time capsule outside Arts and Sciences Hall to be opened in 2108 to celebrate UNO’s bicentennial.

The capsule includes a wide range of items such as:

• a UNO football jersey

• a 1983 student handbook and class catalogue

• a can of Caffeine Free Pepsi

• a picture of the Columbia space shuttle

• a sealed prediction of that year’s homecoming game from then-Athletic Director Don Leahy

Durham Science Center

To commemorate the Durham Science Center's cornerstone during construction, a capsule was placed in a wall southwest of the building's glass atrium. Though the contents of this capsule are unclear, and a date for extraction is not known, it remains a relic of UNO's past hidden in plain sight.

Near Kayser Hall

Yet another time capsule on the Dodge Campus is located near Kayser Hall. It was dedicated in Sept. 1971 and is to be opened during UNO's sesquicentennial (150th) celebration in 2058.

Scott Campus Capsules

Not to be outdone, Scott Campus has its fair share of time capsules — nine of them to be exact

As Mammel Hall was being constructed, Suzanne Sollars, Ph.D., an associate professor in UNO’s Department of Psychology suggested creating nine time capsules to be opened in the next 100 years.

• eight of these time capsules will be opened in 2110

• one will be opened in 2035 to add more items, with additional items being added each quarter century after until the final reveal of all nine capsules

• all capsules were placed within an interior wall of the building with plaques marking their locations

The Opened Capsule

A time capsule accidentally unearthed in front of the Eppley Administration Building has an interesting history of its own.

Buried in 1959, the time capsule was topped with a $600 bronze cap and included hand impressions of then-President Milo Bail and Alpha Phi Omega President Richard Bock.

This capsule housed several mid-century items such as:

• Ivy League clothes

• letters from each of the college deans

• sorority and fraternity pens

• cigarettes and cigars

Six years prior to its open date of 2008, a construction crew doing cement work just outside of the administration building accidentally dug up the capsule. In a twist of fate, this mistake may have saved most of the contents in the time capsule. The capsule wasn’t sealed properly and had filled with water. Salvageable items were saved and are now in the possession of UNO Archives and Special Collections.

UNO Archives and Special Collections

Want to dig a bit deeper into UNO's history? Learn more about UNO Archives and Special Collections.

Archives and Special Collections acquires and preserves unique, rare, and specialized materials. The collections are available for the university community and general public to use in Criss Library and online.