Rice University: Time capsule found in Abercrombie cornerstone

A time capsule from the November 1948 formal opening of the Abercrombie Engineering Laboratory was discovered in the building’s cornerstone by demolition crews clearing the way for a new 266,000-square-foot engineering and science building. The copper box was given to longtime Rice historian Melissa Kean, who found it contained newspaper clippings and university documents detailing the origins of Abercrombie. Kean, who served as university historian and later Centennial Historian from 2005 until her retirement in 2020, detailed the findings on her Rice History Corner blog May 26. (Photo by Melissa Kean)