Books, Confederate memorabilia found in Robert E Lee time capsule but no rumoured coffin photo of Lincoln

Time capsule located as pedestal of Confederate statue demolished in Richmond, Virginia

Conservation experts in Richmond, Virginia, have opened a time capsule found inside the pedestal that until recently supported a statue of Confederate General Robert E Lee.

Inside they found books, money, ammunition, documents, and other artifacts, but speculation regarding the presence of a photo of Abraham Lincoln lying in his coffin proved unfounded.

The lead conservator for the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, Kate Ridgway, said the measurements and material of the box, copper, match historical accounts. As the contents inside were unpacked, they appeared to match the description of the 1887 time capsule they had been looking for.

“It does appear that this is the box we expected,” she told reporters.

Records maintained by the Library of Virginia suggest that dozens of Richmond residents, organisations and businesses contributed about 60 objects to the capsule, including Confederate memorabilia.

The box was discovered and carefully extracted from the monument site a day earlier, marking the end of a long search for the elusive capsule.

Ms Ridgway said the box, which weighed 36 pounds, was found in water in a little alcove of the pedestal.

The contents were damp, but “it’s not soup”, she said, adding: “I think it’s in better shape than we expected.”

However, the damp has caused some of the contents to expand and stick together in the already tightly-packed box, making unpacking difficult. Conservators decided to relieve pressure by cutting down one side.

“Not ideal, but it’s the way it is,” Ms Ridgway said.

Sue Donovan, left, and Kate Ridgeway, right, dig into the artifacts inside a copper box time capsule (AP)

Historical records had led to some speculation that the capsule might contain a rare and historically significant photo of deceased President Abraham Lincoln. One line from a newspaper article listed among the contents a “picture of Lincoln lying in his coffin”.

On Tuesday, conservators found a printed image from an 1865 issue of Harper’s Weekly in the time capsule that Ms Ridgway said seemed to show a figure grieving over Lincoln’s grave – but did not appear to be the much-anticipated photo.

Harold Holzer, a historian and Lincoln scholar, had previously told The Associated Press he believed it highly unlikely that the time capsule contained an actual photograph of President Lincoln in his coffin because the only known photo of the president after his assassination was taken by photographer Jeremiah Gurney in City Hall in New York on April 24, 1865.

Nevertheless, the contents of the box included several waterlogged books, pamphlets and newspapers, as well as an envelope of Confederate money, which conservators carefully separated.

There were also two carved artifacts – a Masonic symbol and a Confederate flag said to have been made from the tree that grew over General Stonewall Jackson’s original grave.

Conservators also pulled buttons, coins and Miniè balls, a type of bullet used in the Civil War, from the box. A bomb squad had checked the capsule on Monday, partly to make sure there was no live ammunition.

The search for the time capsule began after Virginia Governor Ralph Northam ordered the enormous equestrian statue of General Lee removed in 2020, amid the global protest movement sparked by the police killing of George Floyd.

Litigation pushed back his plans, and the statue was not removed until September, after a court cleared the way.

News accounts from the late 1800s detailed the placement of the time capsule in the foundation of the pedestal, and imaging tests conducted earlier this year appeared to confirm its existence. But a lengthy search during the September statue removal came up empty.

Earlier this month, Governor Northam ordered the pedestal removed as well, and crews working on the project again started to search for the artifact.

A time capsule was discovered two weeks ago, generating excitement, but hours of painstaking and ultimately anti-climactic examination suggested that artifact was placed by someone else, perhaps someone involved with the construction.

With reporting by The Associated Press