College Archives updates on time capsule, graffiti boards

06/08/2021

During the spring semester, Memorial Library and the College Archives invited the campus community to donate materials for a time capsule project about COVID-19 that will be opened during SUNY Cortland’s bicentennial in 2068. To date, the College Archives has received various donations, including masks, letters, face shields, signs and personal reflections. Members of the campus community may continue to donate using an online form or by contacting the College Archives.

"On behalf of the College Archives, we want to say thank you to students, faculty, and staff for donating materials for the time capsule,” said Jeremy Pekarek, archivist and instructional services librarian. “Each donation we receive for this project sheds light on how the Red Dragon community experienced this difficult year and tells us something about their perseverance and strength."

Students, faculty, and staff also contributed to graffiti boards in Memorial Library during the last two weeks of classes. The boards, which were located in the library lobby, asked specific questions about life at SUNY Cortland this year in order to capture personal experiences. The graffiti boards will be preserved within the time capsule to give future Red Dragons insight into the challenges of the pandemic and the accomplishments of the campus community during this historic year.

"The inspiration for the Graffiti boards was to provide a fun interactive way for the campus to express how they were feeling during this experience,” said Jennifer Kronenbitter, director of libraries. “It was interesting to check each day to see how this shared writing space grew."

Items for inclusion in the time capsule include, but are not limited to: