Time capsule from 1993 reveals the drastic change the world has undergone

Instant cameras and digital apps help us record daily moments, but before advanced technology, people preserved memories through scrapbooks and time capsules. In 1993, students at Shenandoah University in Virginia filled a box with knick-knacks. In the fall of 2018, new students unearthed this time capsule and were amused by the changes over 25 years, per the university press release.

During the university’s Homecoming weekend, a group of students gathered on a lawn where a giant stone plank lay on the ground, with a message etched on it, “Class of ’93. Time capsule to be opened in the year 2018.” They removed the giant plank and dug out a horizontal box. “We’ve no idea what’s in it,” one of the students exclaimed. They opened the box and gasped. The treasures stored inside the box hit the group with a wave of nostalgia. The 1993 curio contained many interesting elements from the past, including a cassette tape, vinyl records, bookmarks wrapped in tinsel, comic books, a yearbook, a newspaper, photographs, bubble pacifiers, handwritten poems, and old newspapers.

Former Bachelor of Science in Arts Management graduates Catherine Ann Via Burzio, Barbara Ellen Hartsell and Vera Massarotto added a picture from their 1991 choir tour to Zurzach, Switzerland. The three smiling girls in the picture donned typical 90s styles with puff-sleeved dresses and hairstyles like cropped bobs and curly flicks. Each of the three musicians included a note about how they imagined themselves in the next 25 years. They wrote that by this time, they’d be “happily married and have children.”

Apart from this, the capsule included vinyl records of “The Beatles.” The record “Introducing The Beatles” came with songs like “I Saw Her Standing There,” “Love Me Do,” and “Twist and Shout.” A printed playlist from 89.7 FM WSUR Shenandoah University Radio listed songs like “Superstition” by Stevie Wonder, “Fast Car” by Tracy Chapman, “If You Love Somebody Set Them Free” by Sting, “Thriller” by Michael Jackson, and more likewise.

Then, the historic repository included a 25-cent newspaper listing several TV shows like “Saved By The Bell,” “Baywatch,” and “The Wonder Years.” A student named Tobie also included the program to his senior recital held at 3 p.m. on April 10, 1993, and a cassette tape of his recital, that still plays.

There was also a romantic note tucked inside the capsule. The note, signed by a graduate student, Marvin Everette Grice, read, “Request: Gloria Warner, To dance with Marvin Grice on 5-6-93. 8-?” Hopefully, this request was accepted by Gloria.

The capsule also included a stone hippo ornament, a student ID, and a toy dinosaur that probably captured the release of the first “Jurassic Park” in cinemas. As the unearthing was over, one of the students in the group said, “Do you want to say anything?” Another replied, “How about some cupcakes?” The nostalgia was too sweet not to celebrate with some dessert.