The contents of a 50-year-old time capsule show that history isn’t as far away as we might think.
On Oct. 16, 2025, perhaps the first truly chilly day of fall, a crowd gathered around a temporary stage in Brigham Square to celebrate BYU Founder’s Day. President C. Shane Reese (BS ’94, MS ’95) and univer- sity librarian Richard B. Anderson (BS ’91, MLIS ’93) donned white archivist gloves as they peered into a copper-colored time capsule that had been enclosed in the walls of the Harold B. Lee Library in 1976 and opened for BYU’s 150th birthday.
The time capsule, says university archivist Cory L. Nimer (BA ’99), “reflects what people at the time felt was important…to share with people today.”
“They represent . . . . the hopes of people at the moment.”
Cory Nimer
What did the BYU of 1975 consider important to share with us in 2025? President Reese laughed along with the crowd as he pulled a backpack from the time capsule, reading aloud a note informing that backpacks were “commonly used by students to carry their books and supplies.” Anderson unearthed a measuring tape, explaining that “the student body in the mid-’70s were convinced that we would have done away with the old imperial measurement system.” There was even a yummy surprise at the end—50-year-old freeze-dried cinnamon bears that President Reese politely refused to try.
There were other treasures inside the time capsule—old diplomas, official documents, letters from students, tape recordings, and even a copy of BYU’s deed of trust, originally signed exactly 150
years before. According to Nimer, many items may find homes in Special Collections. Whether handwritten documents or questionable pieces of candy, he feels the value of each item lies in what it communicates about the people who provided them. “They represent not just that snapshot [of 1975], but the hopes of people at the moment,” he says.
What were those hopes? From the backpack, maybe the anxious aspirations of a student preparing for finals. From the cinnamon bears, a wish for a taste of BYU through a trademark treat. Both items are still campus staples. Maybe we’re not so different from the BYU community of 50 years ago, after all.
