Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Tampa Bay staff found a welded-shut copper box while searching storage for its centennial exhibit. Opened with a hammer and crowbar, it held programs and photographs from the 1962 opening of Tampa’s Interbay Boys Club.
The capsule also contained a cigar and a congratulatory telegram from former President Herbert Hoover, who was chairman of the Boys’ Clubs of America at the time. Communications director Ava Cahoon said speeches in the box referred to communism and the Cold War.
The artifacts are set to appear in the organization’s centennial exhibit at the Tampa Bay History Center from Oct. 1 through Nov. 30. The organization also plans to seal a new time capsule documenting the current era.
