Issue date: 4/24/09 Section: News

Mark Hudson, director of University Housing and Dining, examines artifacts found in a time capsule, which was buried in 1979, at Pemberton Hall on Oct. 14, 2008. (Karolina Strack/The Daily Eastern News)

A letter and a beer stein were some of the few items found in a time capsule buried by the Pemberton Hall residents in 1979.

Now, current residents of the hall will continue the tradition and bury a time capsule of their own around 1:15 p.m. on Sunday on the east side of the building.

Mark Hudson, director of housing and dining, said it is important for the residents of Pemberton to continue the tradition of the time capsules.

"There have been three that have been buried," he said. "The '63 capsule was dug up by the people in '69. The '69 was dug up the group in '79, and the '79 was just dug up this school year."

Residents of Pemberton Hall came across information about the time capsules during the preparation period for the "100 years of Pemberton Hall" celebration that took place during the 2008 Homecoming weekend.

Emily Steele, the hall council president for Pemberton, said they knew the general area of the time capsule and had set up a time to dig it.

"This was part of the activities during the Pemberton Hall celebration," she said.

When the residents dug up the capsule, they found a tin box with several items. Steele said some of the items in the box were a beer stein, a thimble and a greeting letter.

"The letter they left us was wet, and they had put it in plastic or something," she said. "We had to unfold it and piece it back together."

Steele said the letter spoke of the previous time capsule the older residents had dug that was buried in 1969.

"They told us in the letter that they dug up the previous one and that they lived in Pemberton, and they were part of Pemberton's sorority, Phi Ep (Phi Epsilon Nu)," she said. "There was a mini beer stein and it was from a local bar in the area. It was really the most exciting thing."

Steele said the current residents of Pemberton Hall are excited about the time capsule they plan to bury Sunday afternoon.

"We sat down at a council meeting and said we were going to do another one and have it to be dug up in the next 50 years," she said.

When it comes to the items in this year's time capsule, Steele said Pemberton's hall council thought of fun ways to go about it.

Steele said the residents were thinking about putting a flash drive or CD in the time capsule, but did not know if that would be possible due to technology's innovation in the next 50 years.

"I think we are buying a DVD player or CD player, something to put in there," she said. "So if they don't have that technology currently available, they can use it to open it."

Steele said the residents have also written a letter as a hall council.

"We wanted to tell them what was going on in 2008," she said. "A lot of people put pictures in there also."

Steele said keeping up with the traditions of the time capsule is important because of the Pemberton Hall's rich history.

"Looking back at the women who came back and the research that was presented during Homecoming weekend was just astounding," she said.

Steele said some of the residents realize when their time capsule is dug up in 50 years that the next generation will laugh at them.

"They are going to open our music and say what is this, and what are they wearing, but we want them to be as interested on how we were living," she said. "I want them to realize that life in Pemberton is always fun."


Jessica Leggin can be reached at 581-7942 or jmleggin@eiu.edu.

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