A time capsule on display at the Park Street Library at the Lyric.
A time capsule at the Park Street Library at the Lyric will soon be sealed and locked way, with the hopes that a future generation of library customers will be there when it’s opened in a quarter-century to examine the contents and remember and reflect on 2021, the year the new library was completed.
The project, organized by Graciela Rivera, branch manager at the library, included contributions from library staff, friends and supporters of Hartford Public Library as well as families and children from the Frog Hollow neighborhood. With COVID-19 being front of mind today, an HPL-branded face mask and a 3D model of the coronavirus were among the items that will be placed in the time capsule.
Hartford Public Library President and CEO Bridget E. Quinn speaks during a time capsule dedication ceremony at the Park Street Library at the Lyric.
Hartford Public Library President and CEO Bridget E. Quinn, who spoke at a dedication ceremony for the time capsule, noted that it had taken more than 25 years for the new Park Street library to come to fruition. Among the documents selected for inclusion was the agenda of a 1998 community meeting where Ana Alfaro, a longtime booster of a new library in the Frog Hollow neighborhood and a member of HPL’s board of directors, discussed the project.
“Even though 25 years sounds like a really, really long time, this community has been working way longer than that to get to where we are today,” Quinn said. She said she included in the time capsule a letter to future HPL leadership “that’s essentially a love letter to Hartford and a wish for Hartford to continue to invest in education and community so that places like this are the norm in every part of the city.”
Customers at the Park Street Library at the Lyric were invited to write letters to be included in a time capsule.
Visitors at the library were invited to write their own letters to future library customers. Some addressed the letters to themselves, with the hope that they would be back at the Park Street Library at the Lyric in 25 years to be there when the time capsule is opened.
Alfaro’s contribution included photographs from the new library’s ribbon-cutting and grand opening celebration, as well as a signed tribute from staff at Eversource Energy, where she works as a coordinator of volunteers. The utility donated $100,000 toward the library’s community room. She also wrote a letter detailing the decadeslong effort to get a new library in the neighorhood.
“This is why we advocated for this building 35 years ago … we knew that this was important,” Alfaro said as she looked out at those at the ceremony. “What we didn’t know is it was going to take 35 years to happen. But what I know today, and the message I would like to leave with you, is always, always get involved if you believe in a cause in your community. Never give up the idea … if you believe it’s important and a cause you really want to advocate for, you’ve got to stay with it.”
See below for a sampling of some of the items that will be included in the time capsule.
A Hartford Public Library face mask and a model of the coronavirus.
Photographs from the opening of the Park Street Library at the Lyric.
A Hartford Public Library 2021 annual report and a magazine from Beyond Words, HPL’s annual fundraiser.
A hat and scarf knit by a Park Street Library at the Lyric customer.
Hartford Public Library library cards.
An advertisement signed by employees of Eversource Energy wishing Hartford Public Library well.