1887 time capsule found at base of Lee statue to be opened

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam is scheduled to witness the opening Wednesday of a time capsule from 1887 that was buried under a towering statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in Richmond

The massive bronze equestrian statue of Lee — long seen as a symbol of racial injustice in the former capital of the Confederacy — was taken down in September. The time capsule was found Friday by crews working to remove the pedestal where the Lee statue had stood.

The square box was embedded in a 2,000-pound (900-kilogram) granite block. Julie Langan, the director of the state's Department of Historic Resources, told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that the box was removed from the granite Tuesday.

A newspaper article from 1887 suggests the capsule contains Civil War memorabilia and a “picture of Lincoln lying in his coffin,” although historians believe it’s doubtful the picture is an actual photograph, which would be rare and valuable.

Records from the Library of Virginia suggest that 37 Richmond residents, organizations and businesses contributed about 60 objects to the capsule, many of which are believed to be related to the Confederacy.

“We’re hoping it hasn’t been damaged by water over the last 100-plus years,” Clark Mercer, Northam’s chief of staff, said Friday.

The Lee statue was erected in 1890. It's removal in September came more than a year after Northam ordered that it be taken down following protests that erupted after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The day after the statue was removed, work crews spent more than 12 hours searching for the time capsule in the 40-foot-tall (12-meter-tall) pedestal but were unable to locate it.

The Lee statue was one of five Confederate tributes along Richmond’s Monument Avenue and the only one that belonged to the state. The four city-owned statues were taken down in 2020, but the Lee statue removal was blocked by two lawsuits until a ruling from the Supreme Court of Virginia in September cleared the way for it to be taken down.

Northam, a Democrat, announced earlier this month that the enormous pedestal would be removed, a reversal from September, when the governor said the pedestal would stay in place so its future could be determined by a community-driven effort to reimagine Monument Avenue.

After Floyd’s killing in 2020, the Lee statue became a focal point of the racial justice movement in Richmond. Since then, the pedestal has been covered in graffiti, some of it profane and much of it denouncing the police. Some activists wanted to see it remain in place as a work of protest art.