September 2013
La Mémoire du temps: memories for the future
For immediate release
Montréal, September 26, 2013 – When the Mariners’ House was in the process of being refurbished as part of Pointe-à-Callière’s expansion project, the Museum’s teams were surprised to find a time capsule that had been buried when the building was originally constructed, in 1953. Continuing the tradition, Pointe-à-Callière created a new stainless steel box engraved with the name La Mémoire du temps (The Memory of Time), which was filled with items relating to the newly refurbished building, inaugurated in 2013. A brief ceremony to mark its burying took place today, September 26, in the presence of the boards of directors of both Pointe-à-Callière and its Foundation.
A new time capsule, bearing witness to our day and age
The new box was buried beneath a slab in the building’s basement. It contains several modern-day items that may be of interest to future historians, archaeologists, and visitors. Among the items enclosed (a full list is included in the appendix to this press release) are: a general message about the building’s inauguration, a press kit on the inauguration, photos of the building before and after the renovations, the plans for the new Mariners’ House, coins issued in 2013, and copies of newspapers published the day after the inauguration. The new time capsule also includes a document found in the earlier box, thereby linking the two eras.
Documents from 1953
The 1953 time capsule, discovered in the original building, contained Canadian and British coins from 1953, newspaper clippings, the program from a concert held at the Montreal Sailors’ Institute on November 25, 1952, Montreal Sailors’ Institute annual reports (some dating from 1941), and a copy of The Gazette from October 26, 1953, among other artifacts—all of them still intact. These various documents and items, bearing witness to the history of the Mariners’ House, are now part of Pointe-à-Callière’s collections.
About Pointe-à-Callière
Pointe-à-Callière is the only major archaeology museum in all of Québec and Canada; its museum complex rises above a concentrated number of national historic and archaeological sites that illustrate major eras in the history of Montréal, Québec, and Canada. It opened in 1992, on the occasion of the 350th anniversary of the founding of Montréal. Pointe-à-Callière’s mission is to raise awareness and foster an appreciation of Montréal’s history, and to forge bonds with regional, national, and international networks concerned with archaeology, history, and urban issues.
Pointe-à-Callière is subsidized by the City of Montréal.
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