Time capsule contest ends in tie; Winners use research to identify 13 of 14 items

Senior history major Lydia Poon and Herb Borock, a Palo Alto resident, tied for first place in accuracy in the contest to guess the contents of a time capsule buried by Jane Stanford in 1898. The copper box about the size of a shoebox was uncovered unexpectedly during a renovation of Building 160 last summer and was opened at the Founders' Celebration on Community Day, April 7.

University Archivist Margaret Kimball, contest judge, received 373 entries for the contest that ended April 3. Entries were judged and prizes awarded for accuracy and ingenuity.

Poon and Borock both correctly named 13 out of 14 items found in the capsule. Both entries contained only one small error -- an incorrect guess about the number of university circulars included in the time capsule. The winning entries demonstrated research acumen as well as knowledge about the university's archives, Kimball said.

Poon won lunch with Provost John Etchemendy, and Borock won two tickets to an upcoming Lively Arts musical performance featuring Anonymous 4 and Lionheart.

Isaac Keslassy, a doctoral student in electrical engineering, and Atherton resident Cecile Pichel tied for second place for accuracy. Keslassy, who guessed six of the 14 items, has been awarded a behind-the-scenes tour of the university archives and a one-year membership to the Stanford Historical Society. Pichel, who guessed four of the items, won a family membership to the Cantor Arts Center.

Twelve-year-old Anna Glantz, a Menlo Park seventh grader at the Hillview Middle School, won third place for accuracy. Glantz, who read about the contest in her school paper, correctly guessed that the time capsule included coins and a letter from Jane Stanford. Glantz was awarded a spot as guest conductor of the Stanford Band.

Kimball also awarded prizes for ingenuity -- noting funny or plausible guesses in particular.

Susan Wyle, a lecturer in Stanford's Program in Writing and Rhetoric, placed first for ingenuity with guesses including a "pair of Jane's knickerbockers" and "Herbert Hoover's first laundry delivery slip from his business out of Encina." Wyle won two press passes to the Oct. 12 Stanford football game versus Arizona.

Stanford alumna Sharon Olson, a librarian at the Palo Alto City Library, won second place for ingenuity. Olson quipped that the time capsule contained, among other items, "Oski's glass eyes," referring to the mascot of the University of California-Berkeley. Olson was awarded a gift certificate for one class in Stanford's Continuing Studies Program.

Tying for third in the ingenuity contest were joint entrants Marisa Egerstrom and Kendra Arimoto, who are Stanford students, and Laura Leets, assistant professor of communication. The three submitted such plausible guesses as a "red silk handkerchief that the student body waved" and "names commemorating the 38 volunteers for the Spanish-American War." They will share a book donated by the Stanford Bookstore, and a campus photograph and duffel bag donated by the Stanford Alumni Association.

Kimball said she liked serving as contest judge but enjoyed even more seeing the reaction of the public to the capsule's contents on Community Day. "The best part was the kids, who would stand there with large, bright eyes, looking at what was in the capsule," she said.

A full list of the capsule contents can be found at http://timecapsule.stanford.edu. The items will be on display through the end of April in the Field Room on the second floor of the Bing Wing of Cecil H. Green Library.