Archivists with the Bostonian Society provided the first images of the contents of the 113-year-old time capsule that was found inside the Old State House’s lion statue. Perhaps most importantly, the mystery of the red book has been solved.

Last Thursday, archivists opened the head of the Old State House’s golden lion and took out a sealed time capsule that had originally been placed there in 1901. The Boston Globe’s article from that time listed the items that were placed inside, but upon opening the box, a mystery red book appeared on top. That surprise brought out a gasp from archivists and press onlookers.


The unveiling proved to be a bit anti-climatic, as Bostonian Society library and archives manager Elizabeth Roscio decided not to take any items out of the box until they could be taken to a clean and controlled environment.

On Wednesday, the Bostonian Society emailed a detailed list of the capsule’s contents and some images to boot. The red book turned out to be “Foreign Relations of the United States, 1896,’’ an annual publication by of the Secretary of the Commonwealth.

The insides of the time capsule’s mystery red book. —Bostonian Society

“We are not sure why the book was not listed,’’ Bostonian Society’s Heather Leet said in an email to Boston.com. “But we speculate that it was actually just used [as] a filler to fill space in the capsule so that everything was secure and did not move around.’’

That’s not the most exciting answer for the book’s identity, but it appeared to do its space-filling job well. Roscio noted that the condition of the materials was “remarkably good,’’ with little deterioration in the ink or paper quality.

Another surprise find was a piece of the older version of the lion statue from when it was made of wood. It was replaced with a sturdier copper lion, with a time capsule in its head, in 1901.

“Wood from the Old Lion’’ —Bostonian Society


Photos of political leaders of the time were in good condition.

Boston political leaders from the turn of the 20th century had some impressive facial hair. —Bostonian Society

A number of newspapers from the time also were well-kept in the time capsule. Recognize this one?