Secrets of the Century

About the Collection

On December 14, 1941, Oklahoma A&M College celebrated its 50th anniversary with a dinner hosted by OAMC President Henry G, Bennett. As a part of the celebrations, a time capsule was created, and attendees of the dinner were invited to write messages to the future attendees of the university. Their messages, now known as the “Secrets of the Century” were written on 3x5 inch notecards and preserved in the time capsule, which was buried in the south wall of the Edmon Low Library.

The Secrets of the Century were gathered during a weekend jubilee lasting from Dec.13-15, which was less than a week after the tragic events at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. In addition to memorabilia, the capsule included 527 note cards written by those who attended the 50th anniversary dinner.

Many of the hand-written submissions reflect the air of uneasiness in which the country stood. With World War II looming overhead, there was not much hope for students to cling to.

Velda Ellene Henricks wrote,

“none of us know what the future holds in store for us, and in the crisis of a war-torn world, we only hope and pray that God Almighty will carry us through.”

However, David Peters, head of the Archives, felt that despite the disparaging mood of that time, some notes held a positive light.

“It's nice because people wrote these notes with the belief that the world would go on, and they would be read, despite the uncertainty of that time,” David said.

Heartfelt notes, like the one from Eleanore Kieffer, wish their successors well and display their hope of a more steady future for the country.

“Dear Aggies, I have no idea to whom this will be. May you have as much fun and as many troubles as we are. I hope one of your troubles isn’t a war as we have just entered our second world war. Wishing you the best of luck. Eleanore Kieffer, Stillwater, 131 N Husband,” she wrote.

The time capsule containing the stories of the '40s was buried in the south wall of Edmon Low Library. Fifty years later, the class of 1991 would have the pleasure of opening the capsule and finding what their predecessors left for the world of the future.

They could discover the secrets from people of the past and determine the accuracy of their predictions for the future, such as those of Olan H. Hamilton who wrote:

“To Mr. Walter Clark Hamilton, I hope you have had a nice half century. I predict you have made a success in some branch of science. I also predict 1. The present war ended in 1943. 2. A world state organized after the war has prevented any war since 1943! 3. Atomic energy has not been released in large quantities ever. 4. No one has been to the moon.”

Access the Physical Collection

These materials are housed in the Archives. They can be consulted by appointment in the Archives office (2nd floor) of the Edmon Low Library at Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma. For more information please contact the Archives at 405-744-6311 or libscua@okstate.edu.

A list of the items included in the time capsule are available online.

View the Collection

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Contact Us

The Archives at the OSU Library
204 Edmon Low Library
Oklahoma State University
Stillwater, OK 74078
Phone: 405-744-6311
libscua@okstate.edu

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