A 1971 time capsule was discovered this week during renovations to a lounge in O’Connor residence hall, providing a glimpse into campus and national news from five decades ago.

Among the well-preserved items:

• The February 12, 1971 Gleaner student newspaper called Nazareth a “dynamic institution,” with an article about neighbor St. John Fisher College going co-ed. (Nazareth went co-ed soon after.)
• The same issue published an essay by leaders of the NAACP — the nation’s oldest civil rights organization — calling for integration and equality in the nation’s colleges and universities.
• A card featured artwork by Magdalen LaRow ‘50, SSJ, a Nazareth art professor who also designed some of the stained glass windows on campus.
• A carved box includes a note saying it was from a European trip taken by Teresa Marie O’Connor, SSJ — first dean of Nazareth College and namesake of the residence hall in which the time capsule was hidden.
• Headlines include “Nazi Evils Mustn’t Be Forgotten” and “Getting Back to the Moon” (about Apollo 14 astronauts) in a January 31, 1971, issue of the Democrat and Chronicle local newspaper.
• A letter from President Helen Malone, SSJ, told about dedicating the new O’Connor Hall dormitory on February 16, 1971.
• The fall-winter 1970 issue of Verity student-published literary magazine
• Pennies from the era

“It’s like a peek into the time,” says Deborah Janetos, College archivist, who will archive the items in the Lorette Wilmot Library on campus. “This is the only time capsule on campus that we know of — that’s been found.”

The metal box was discovered behind a wall plaque with a quote from O’Connor: “ ‘Keep the preeminence’: Reign over yourself; do fully what you do. Be entirely what you are.”