Eight hundred and sixteen children’s names were sealed in a Bicentennial time capsule 50 years ago! Were you one of those children?
This historic time capsule created in 1976 will be opened on Independence Mall in the fall of 2026 as part of America’s 250th anniversary celebration.
Women for Greater Philadelphia (WFGP), known in 1976 as Women for the Bicentennial, is leading the project to unveil the capsule, which has been preserved for decades at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Along with the children’s names were photos, news articles and other memorabilia from that …
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Eight hundred and sixteen children’s names were sealed in a Bicentennial time capsule 50 years ago! Were you one of those children?
This historic time capsule created in 1976 will be opened on Independence Mall in the fall of 2026 as part of America’s 250th anniversary celebration.
Women for Greater Philadelphia (WFGP), known in 1976 as Women for the Bicentennial, is leading the project to unveil the capsule, which has been preserved for decades at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Along with the children’s names were photos, news articles and other memorabilia from that time. It also included a letter from (1976) Governor Milton Shapp to the people of Pennsylvania in 2026, and a letter from (1976) Mayor Frank Rizzo to the mayor of Philadelphia in 2026!
WFGP is now reaching out to locate the 816 children whose names were sealed inside nearly half a century ago. At that time, each child received a certificate commemorating the event and charging them with carrying the Spirit of ‘76 forward to future generations, opening the time capsule in 2026, and resealing it with other children’s names to be reopened in 2076 for America’s Tricentennial.
Some of the children have already found us! Although most children were from the Philadelphia area, some remembered being in the time capsule as a class project in Ocean City Primary School in New Jersey, and another “time traveler” now lives in Michigan and is excited about coming to the ceremony in Philadelphia later this year. The stories of how they remembered the time capsule are wonderful and range from finding the original certificate in old documents that triggered a search to find us, to someone being visited in a dream by a grandmother reminding her not to forget about the time capsule!
WFGP hopes to reconnect with as many original participants as possible and invites the public to help spread the word. If your name was in the 1976 Bicentennial time capsule, or if you would like to be included in the 2076 Tricentennial time capsule, please contact Women for Greater Philadelphia at womenforgreaterphiladelphia.org/time_capsule.html or call 215-235-1776. We would love to hear from you!
Christine Fisher Smith, President, Women for Greater Philadelphia
Stewards of Laurel Hill Mansion
