A document-filled copper box from 1917 that was recently discovered in a wall of a Greenwich Village school spurred students yesterday to create a time capsule of their own.
Workers at PS 3 had discovered the box doing renovations to the school’s gym last November.
The capsule contained a host of materials from a school alumni association that proudly documented the history of the nearly 200-year-old school, now at the corner of Grove and Hudson streets.
“I was so excited when I found out about the time capsule – I couldn’t believe it,” said fifth-grader Tyler Parker, 11. “I never thought I’d see something like this at my school.”
At the official unveiling of the box’s contents yesterday at the New-York Historical Society, kids talked about how it inspired them to create their own time capsule for future generations of kids.
Part of the fun was trying to imagine who would discover their creation – an aluminum box containing documents about their lives, current events, questions about the future, and photocopies of the original 1917 documents – and when.
“Are there robots in your life?” 11-year-old Saounder Anandane wrote in a letter to future PS 3 students. “What technologies do you use?”
Jean Ashton, executive vice president of the library at the Historical Society, said the copper box had clearly been stashed by “a group of people very conscious of their school.”
They chose to include school-song lyrics and programs from the annual alumni dinners, as well as a brass alumni-association badge.
The time capsule gave no indication for how long they expected it to remain hidden – a tradition Principal Lisa Siegman plans to continue.