Museum time capsule set back for next 50 years

History and the future were woven together seamlessly in La Conner on Thursday.

The final event of the Skagit County Historical Museum’s Golden Anniversary celebration that night peered ahead as much as it paid tribute to the past.

A standing room only crowd of 75 gathered to watch the Museum’s time capsule re-filled and placed again inside the wall near its main entrance, not to be unsealed until 2069.

It was, as best all could tell, a re-rerun of what took place there a half-century ago when the capsule was initially wedged full of items that defined the Age of Aquarius, Skagit-style.

Those historic gems, hailing the peak of the Space Age and an era of thick catalog retail shopping, were recovered amid much fanfare at the Museum in December.

But on Thursday all eyes were focused on the great unknowns of 50 years hence.

Yet one thing is certain, that being the identities of today’s youth entrusted with the next opening of the durable metal box. (See related story). They don’t know it now, but in 50 years they’ll re-discover plenty of 2019 memorabilia, including but not limited to:

• school calendars;

• newspaper accounts of the Museum’s 50th anniversary year;

• a biography of legendary doctor Harry Worley, a founder of the Skagit Valley Medical Center and who delivered more than 10,000 babies during his career, including the first born at Skagit Valley Hospital;

• a photo of La Conner middle school history students;

• correspondence from the Swinomish Tribal Community, among which include a letter signed by Senate chair Brian Cladoosby, a past president of the National Congress of American Indians);

• various items provided by Skagit County’s Chambers of Commerce;

• a copy of Claire Swedberg’s and Rita Hupy’s acclaimed book “In the Valley of Mystic Light”;

• a Town of La Conner proclamation, signed by Mayor Ramon Hayes, saluting the Museum on its first 50 years;

• a final draft of La Conner High student Rachel Cram’s winning Kiwanis Club essay contest entry highlighting local journalism, including the impact of her late great-grandfather, M.P. “Pat” O’Leary, the longtime editor and publisher of La Conner’s Puget Sound Mail;

• a photo of current Skagit County Commissioners Ron Wesen, Ken Dahlstedt, and Lisa Janicki; and

• special contributions from Museum auction winners John and Toni Christianson and Kim Broadhead.

Museum Director Jo Wolfe added that a computer thumb drive, blank checks from Skagit Bank, and a security system key were being added prior to staff member Warren Gravely sealing the capsule and returning it to the wall.

Whether checks will still be around in 2069 is uncertain, but Wolfe noted that Skagit Bank is no more, having recently been purchased by Banner Bank.

Thumb drives and security keys likely will be outdated artifacts in 50 years as well, Wolfe surmised. The Museum itself has already switched to a digital security system, she said.

Wolfe said great effort has been taken to document and put on file what is contained in the time capsule. This has been done to avoid the surprise that arose when present Museum staff and volunteers learned a time capsule was placed somewhere in the Museum in 1969, shortly after the facility opened.

“If Don Elliott hadn’t decided to reference the archives,” said Wolfe, “we probably wouldn’t have known. He said, ‘did you realize we have a time capsule in the Museum?’ We didn’t know where it was.”

Once located, the time capsule became one of the Museum’s Golden Anniversary focal points.

Speaking of focal points, longtime Skagit Valley Herald news photographer Scott Terrell, who recently announced his retirement from the paper, was forever linked to the capsule by Dave Johnson, emcee of Thursday’s Museum reception.

As Terrell took his position to photograph the time capsule being re-filled, Johnson in a friendly quip referred to him as an “historical relic.”

“Fortunately,” Terrell chuckled, “I won’t fit in the box.”

Turns out, lots of outside-the-box thinking helped decide what went into the time capsule this time around.