Mahoning officials seek items for time capsule

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Mahoning County commissioners Thursday considered what could be stored for posterity inside a new time capsule at the county courthouse and what items from the 1910 capsule unearthed in 2010 after the historic building’s centennial could be put on display.

Commissioners suggested each political subdivision or school district in the county offer something unique for a new time capsule to be placed behind a granite brick near the county’s cornerstone at Market and Boardman streets, after restoration work at the courthouse wraps in July.

James Fortunato, head of the county purchasing department, who has been overseeing the courthouse’s face-lift, suggested including the county-received award for restoration of the copper statues adorning its roof.

William Lawson, executive director of the Mahoning County Historical Society, said newspaper editions from the day of the capsule’s dedication, community newsletters and modern paper and coin currency and business cards are the most common items to be sent into the future.

The society has preserved the dozens of early 20th-century records stuffed inside the capsule in 1908.

He said long-term exhibition of paper artifacts could require deacidification, which can be costly.

“As far as sensitivity to light and environment, newspapers would be the most sensitive because it’s a very low-quality paper,” he said. “When we took them out of the time capsule [in 2010], it was like they were delivered yesterday.”

He suggested digitizing the records from 1908 for display on the county website.