1986 - Time Capsule
1986
Burbank mayor Mary Kelsey stands at the microphone on the City Hall steps while a city employee displays the damaged contents of a just-opened time capsule at a ceremony on November 24, 1986. The employee is holding up a 1930s pamphlet from the Burbank Chamber of Commerce entitled "Burbank, its place in the sun." Library Board vice-chairman Marc Gillenson is also visible, along with tools that had been used to open the time capsule's metal casing. According to the Los Angeles Times, the time capsule had been buried in the cornerstone of old Central Library in 1937 and was damaged when the building was demolished in 1963. It stayed unopened and was virtually forgotten until it was rediscovered in the spring of 1986 in the office closet of Library Director Marcia Richards at the newer Central Library. The unveiling event held in November as part of the city's 75th anniversary Diamond Jubilee Celebration was widely considered a disappointment, as the time capsule contained mostly uninteresting library documents--receipts for library plants, etc.--that had disintegrated over time and from water damage due to "inadequate asbestos wrapping." Richards compared the event to Geraldo Rivera's infamous televised opening of Al Capone's vault. At the City Hall event, Mayor Kelsey also oversaw the burying of a new capsule that was opened in 2011.
275 E Olive Ave, Burbank, CA 91502
35mm b&w negative
Burbank Public Library, Burbank in Focus Office
cco00244
City Clerk's Office
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