See the 100-year-old artifacts unearthed from time capsule at KC’s World War I Museum

Most people wouldn’t think of the unveiling of a 100-year-old time capsule as a bombshell of an event. Still, the Kansas City Police bomb and arson unit was needed to open a copper box containing historical artifacts officially unveiled Wednesday at the National World War I Museum and Memorial in Kansas City

To even get to the box back in July, museum officials had to drill through 18 inches of concrete and limestone in the 217-foot tall Liberty Memorial Tower at 2 Memorial Drive.

Inside the centennial time capsule, officials found 15 artifacts dating back to 1924 and earlier, including a film of the 1921 groundbreaking for the memorial, the 1917 Declaration of War and a 1921 Kansas City Star article engraved in copper.

Early film was made with nitrate, which becomes highly flammable as it deteriorates. So members of the bomb squad had to be the first people to open the time capsule on the lawn of the memorial, without explosions or fires, helping ensure the artifacts would remain in good condition, unaffected by water and mold.

On Wednesday, the artifacts were slowly unveiled to the public, as they were pulled from behind a red curtain in the auditorium of the museum, to a chorus of ‘ohs, ahs, and wows’ from the students in attendance from Pershing Elementary in Saint Joseph, Lee’s Summit High, and Lincoln College Preparatory Academy.

Video of the entire process was shown on the auditorium’s screen behind the artifacts, and on the museum’s online broadcast which had almost 600 people watching live on YouTube.

Being a part of the historical process was a joy for museum officials.

“It kind of felt like we were all kids at Christmas,” digitization program manager and registrar Tracy Dennis said. “It’s just so cool to see. No one’s seen these things in 100 years, and we really didn’t know what we were in for.”

Historical documents, film and a Kansas City Star article

Several documents were engraved in copper and wrapped in tan paper wrapping sealed with stickers.

Museum staff said they were surprised by how well the artifacts were preserved as they slowly unpeeled the artifacts, going through loads of blue latex gloves. A four member team totaled eight hours to get everything out of the box initially. Only one letter, which was covered in beeswax, made the staff put in some extra effort, taking more than two hours to pull the letter out of the envelope.

“It was just the first look into the time capsule and seeing everything was in such good condition,” said digitization technician Caitlyn Martin. “I was really surprised by that, because I figured being in the oven that is the tower, something would have melted.”

Four letters found were from WWI Allied Forces commanders who were in Kansas City in 1921.

There were also congratulatory letters from Allied commanders who attended the groundbreaking and President Calvin Coolidge, which had been sent to the Liberty Memorial Association in 1924.

Three items were left unopened for Wednesday’s presentation: a cardboard box that housed a tube of agricultural seeds, a letter from Allied general John Pershing that chief curator Christoper Warren described as a “100 year old out of office memo”, and the Star article, which was read out loud by Lee’s Summit sophomore Cooper Ford.

“Parade to thousand,” Ford read from the Star article. “The American Legion, 60,000 strong, marched the greatest crowd Kansas City ever has seen. City is engulfed. Every foot of the Three Mile parade route was jammed with humanity.”

His classmates, Khaelen Kwi and Jamal Onikoyi, were astounded by the artifacts and the fact that they witnessed history. Onikoyi referenced a statistic from museum staff about Kansas City producing 120,000 kilowatts of power in 1924 — noting the city produces eight and half times that amount today.

“It just shows me how far we came as a city, and how much different it is now than it was back then,” Okinoyi said.

The museum is currently taking submissions for its own centennial time capsule to be buried in 2026. Technology is the first thought that comes to mind for Kwi.

“We should use a computer, and 100 years later, they’ll have a better computer, and they’ll see what we have back in the day,” Kwi said.

Warren suggested sports memorabilia, entertainment artifacts and artifacts about the politics of the day.

“Then put other things, it may be something faith-based that’s important to Kansas City,” Warren said. “Something has to do with the economy and progress and those types of things. So we’re really looking forward to getting the ideas from the people of Kansas City to help inform us what we should put.”

Artifacts from the time capsule will be on display in the museum’s lower level. Submissions for the next time capsule can be submitted on the museum’s website.

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