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Kimball Harrison Morsman (far right), Benjamin Harrison’s great-great-grandson, hands part of the time capsule to Michael Unruh (far right), of Foundatoin Forward and the Charters of Freedom Project, to lock in the vault at the Harrison Presidential Site until 2087. (Photo/Marilyn Odendahl)

By Marilyn Odendahl
The Indiana Citizen
August 21, 2024

The Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site on Tuesday turned the handle of the vault’s thick metal door, locking the “best wishes, hopes and dreams for the future,” in a time capsule that will not be opened until Constitution Day in 2087.

Before placing the time capsule in the vault, the presidential site in Indianapolis held a special ceremony before a small gathering at the Johnson-Floyd Family Presidential Commons and Sarah Evans Barker Citizenship Plaza. Staff, board members, friends and a pair of reenactors portraying Benjamin Harrison and his first wife, Caroline Scott Harrison, commemorated the occasion on an unseasonably cool but sunny August morning.

“We are placing in this time capsule this morning, the best wishes, hopes and dreams for the future,” Charles Hyde, president and CEO of the Harrison Presidential Site, said.

The capsule, a round metal container a little larger than a bag of sugar, includes artifacts that depict the work and daily life of the Harrison Presidential Site in 2024. Replicas of Harrison’s campaign pins, a strip of “I Voted” stickers given to everyone who casts a ballot at the presidential site on Election Day, and a plastic figurine of Harrison created on a 3-D printer were put into the time capsule. Also tucked inside were letters written by visitors, board members, supporters, new citizens, and students participating in the site’s Future Presidents of America summer camp, which were meant for those who open the capsule 63 years from now.

“Much like Harrison’s invocation that an American citizen could not be a good citizen who did not have a hope in their hearts,” Hyde said, “this time capsule speaks to our hopes for the future and our desire to see our American system of self-government continue to thrive in 2087.”

The ceremony was held in conjunction with the presidential site’s daylong celebration of President Harrison’s 191^st birth anniversary.

Kimball Harrison Morsman, Harrison’s great-great-grandson, led the Pledge of Allegiance during the ceremony. To recite the pledge, the crowd turned around to the Centennial Flag Pole, placed their hands over their hearts and looked up at the waving American flag in the cloudless blue sky.

After Hyde’s remarks, Benjamin Harrison, reenacted by attorney Charles Braun, sporting a fluffy white beard, black suit and tall top hat, read the preamble to the Constitution.

The 2087 time capsule was then carried by Braun to the vault, where it will remain until Sept. 17, 2087, the 300^th anniversary of the signing of the Constitution. The vault is in the base of the Charters of Freedom limestone case which holds copies of the nation’s founding documents.

Donna Oklak, the presidential site’s board chair, and Morsman carried smaller metal cylinders, which will serve as times capsules to be opened in 2187 and 2287, the 400th and 500^th anniversaries, respectively, of the Constitution’s signing. Letters included in the 2087 and 2187 capsules ask future Hoosiers to place the items from the previous time capsule into the subsequent capsule, along with new items depicting the presidential site in their era.

“So not only will we be celebrating the 300^th, 400^th, and 500^th celebrations of the Constitution, but we will be celebrating the history of the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site,” Michael Unruh, director of communications for Foundation Forward and the Charters of Freedom Project, said.

The time capsule’s focus on the Harrison Presidential Site underscored what Hyde noted was the significance of the 23^rd president’s Indianapolis residence and the need to preserve history. In its nearly 250 years, the United States has had more than 500 million citizens, Hyde said, of whom just 12,000 have served in Congress and 116 have sat on the U.S. Supreme Court and only 45 have been president.

“So there’s something exceptional about those 45 individuals that merits greater understanding,” Hyde said. “It’s our aim to share the stories of one of those presidents, Benjamin Harrison. When you think about his legacy, his style of leadership that the 23^rd president brought with his administration, it looks better and better each election cycle.

Speaking after the ceremony, Morsman said his personal message to the future was one of hope for a better world.

“I think the thing, for me, that’s missing in today’s world is the lack of civility. People are just not respectful of other people, but Benjamin Harrison certainly was and that’s one of his legacies,” Morsman said. “I hope when they open the time capsule, the whole situation of society, in general, in the United States will be much more civil than it has been recently.”

Dwight Adams, an editor and writer based in Indianapolis, edited this article. He has been a content editor, copy editor and digital producer at The Indianapolis Star and IndyStar.com, and a planner for other papers, including the Louisville Courier Journal.

The Indiana Citizen is a nonpartisan, nonprofit platform dedicated to increasing the number of informed and engaged Hoosier citizens. We are operated by the Indiana Citizen Education Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)(3) public charity. For questions about the story, contact Marilyn Odendahl at marilyn.odendahl@indianacitizen.org.