Bryan Health staff, trustees, and community members gathered Tuesday to open a time capsule sealed nearly four decades ago, part of the hospital’s ongoing 100th anniversary celebration.
Chase Porter, KLIN News
The capsule, originally placed on June 5, 1987, was unearthed from Bryan East Campus’ main lobby and unpacked in the historical home of William Jennings Bryan, also located on the campus.
“This is like a mid-year celebration of our 100th year,” said Bob Ravenscroft, Bryan Health’s system Vice President. “Our goal is to educate the next generation of leaders and employees about the history and heritage they’re inheriting, and symbolically pass the torch so they can continue building innovative, progressive medicine for the next 100 years.”
After maintenance ditched carefully unsealing the dust covered blue chest—opting for a multi-tool cutter to perform a craniotomy, of sorts—staff sifted through dozens of mementos from the 1980s.
Among the items: a pacemaker, early dialysis tubing, and electrodes used in cardiac monitoring. There were also tokens of hospital life at the time: volunteer uniforms and recognition pins, a 1987 cafeteria menu advertising soup for 51 cents and tacos for just over a dollar, patient information packets, and even pay scales showing entry-level wages around $4 an hour.
Some artifacts underscored the hospital’s longstanding role in medical innovation, such as brochures on Bryan’s early mobile heart unit and records from its nursing school. Others highlighted everyday culture, from promotional campaign buttons to photos of hospital expansions.
Ravenscroft said the opening connected the past with the present, reminding staff that Bryan’s tradition of innovation has deep roots. “Bryan has such a rich history of medical innovation and community support,” he said. “It all started with people coming together to say, ‘This community needs these hospitals.’ That same spirit is alive today as we look toward the future.”
Watch the full time capsule unboxing below:
The items will be digitized and displayed before being resealed for future generations.
Chase Porter, KLIN News