Unveiling history: BYU opens time capsule from 1976 as part of sesquicentennial celebration
-
- Brigham Young University President Shane Reese and university librarian Rick Anderson open a 1976 time capsule Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025, in Provo.
-
- Former BYU quarterback Gifford Neilsen unveils his old jersey from a 1976 time capsule Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025, in Provo.
-
- Muriel Thole is shown on screen while Brigham Young University President Shane Reese and university librarian Rick Anderson unveil a letter she wrote and placed inside a 1976 time capsule Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025, in Provo.
-
- Former Brigham Young University student Vance Campbell reads what he wrote and placed in a 1976 time capsule Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025, in Provo.
-
- Cosmo the Cougar is unveiled in a 1976 outfit during the unveiling of a time capsule Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025, in Provo.
-
- Brigham Young University President Shane Reese and university librarian Rick Anderson open a 1976 time capsule Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025, in Provo.
-
- A video shows two men opening a 1976 time capsule from the Harold B. Lee Library on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025, at Brigham Young University in Provo.
-
- Brigham Young University President Shane Reese and university librarian Rick Anderson open a 1976 time capsule Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025, in Provo.
-
- Brigham Young University President Shane Reese and former BYU quarterback Gifford Nielsen exchange a hug while opening a 1976 time capsule Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025, in Provo.
One of many predictions Brigham Young University students in 1976 had for the next 50 years was that the United States would do away with the imperial system of measurement and replace it with the metric system.
Their conviction was so great that they included a tape measure inside a time capsule to be presented as a relic of the past when opened at the university’s sesquicentennial.
The time capsule was removed from its sealed container in the walls of the Harold B. Lee Library and opened by BYU President Shane Reese and BYU librarian Rick Anderson Thursday morning at Brigham Square for BYU Founders Day.
Reese unveiled the tape measure and read the following message: “This tape measure was used by M. Ephraim Hatch of the physical plant department. He was replacing it with a tape that is marked in meters and inches in preparation for the changeover to the metric system.”
The students may have missed the mark on their prediction, but the tape measure — and several other items in the box — proved that some things haven’t changed.
Freeze-dried chocolate-covered cinnamon bears placed in the box were consistent with the current student body’s penchant for sweet treats, and Gifford Nielsen’s game-worn football jersey showed the importance of the university’s football team.
Other items, though, like a $5 bill equipped with a list of its purchasing power, a cassette tape and messages written by former students and faculty, showed things do change over time.
All of it put into perspective how BYU and the world have progressed in the last half century.
“It’s always so exciting to actually be a part of history and to bring out these artifacts,” said Anderson, who considered the freeze-dried cinnamon bears the most interesting item. “I look at the items and think, man, I was nine years old when these were put in there. A lot of the stuff I remember from my childhood, and to interact with it in the context of revealing BYU history is just really fun, and it’s really an honor.”
The 50-year time span offered the university the chance to place an interesting spin on the unveiling ceremony. A handful of people who placed items in the original box are alive today, and in a full-circle moment, some helped present the findings.
Former BYU student Vance Campbell tearfully read aloud a letter he penned in 1976 that detailed what campus was like back then. He wrote that while students were celebrating the school’s centennial and the United States’ bicentennial, the university remained busy with the opening of the J. Reuben Clark Law School and the expansion of the library.
“We are proud of BYU and its 100-year history,” Campbell wrote. “Besides all of the fanfare and fury of the celebrations, BYU shines gloriously in academics.”
“That was a special moment,” Anderson said.
Nielsen, the former Cougar quarterback who is now a General Authority Seventy of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, displayed his No. 14 royal blue jersey and recounted his memories.
“Fifty years ago I can remember sitting in LaVell Edwards’ office and thinking to ourselves, ‘What can this football program become?’ And now we’re 6-0 and we’re going to win this Saturday night against our dear friends up in Salt Lake City,” Nielsen said.
Nielsen said the greatest change in the last 50 years was the impact the university has had over the world with the introduction of BYU-Pathway Worldwide, a program he said he saw first-hand when he visited church members in West Africa.
“I keep using the word remarkable, because I think when you come to school here, you don’t realize the power of BYU and what’s going to happen, what’s going to continue to happen. It’s not going away,” Nielsen said.
Also honored was President Dallin H. Oaks, who, as BYU president in 1976, placed a gavel to recognize the new law school. Oaks was not in attendance.
President Reese read a letter from the late campus head cashier Muriel Thole. Reese said she was known as the “Knitting Lady,” because she would knit while attending the school’s basketball games, even following the team on the road.
“As you read this, it will be hard for you to imagine a very cold, wintry day in March with staff and students busily engaged in what will seem to you antiquated procedures, but I do trust that you will feel the deep love and appreciation that I have for BYU, and that you will enjoy this campus and all that goes with it,” Thole said.
BYU will continue the time capsule tradition by replacing the 1976 box with a 2026 box in the spring. Students are invited to submit their ideas for what to include.
Anderson said the inspiration he received from the school members back then is something he wants to pass on to the next generation to open the capsule.
“It’s a very proud moment, but it’s also a very humbling moment,” he said. “And it really makes me think, what do we need to do so that 50 years from now, people look back on our accomplishments with as much pride and gratitude as we do when we look back 50 years ago?”
