Fifty years ago, students at Vernon’s Northeast School filled a time capsule with photographs, recordings, artwork, letters to their future selves and Bicentennial artifacts, then buried it in front of the school.

The plan was to retrieve and open it up during the nation’s 250th anniversary.

Thanks to some sleuthing by staff at Northeast School who determined where the capsule was buried, and the work of Vernon Public Works and Cemetery Department employees, the capsule was uncovered and pulled from the ground.

On Monday, June 15, from 5:30 to 8 p.m., at Northeast School, 69 East St., the contents will be on display for the public to view.

Principal Melissa Ross and the head custodian recovered the items from the time capsule, which was actually a concrete burial vault. Some of the items got wet over the past 50 years and deteriorated, but most survived. And that’s what people will be able to view.

Ross said school officials learned about the time capsule from former students and others who remembered when it was buried. That set off the search for documentation to track it down.

“We were able to locate it, dig and confirm that it was actually where we thought it was based on the pictures that we found,” Ross said.

Northeast students will have a special program to look at the items before the public event. They’ll find some items that are completely foreign to them, including a Sears catalog, a Fonzie t-shirt, Legg’s hosiery egg containers and a Planet of the Apes Halloween costume.

“Not a week goes by that I don’t receive an email or a phone call from a former student or a staff member or someone who was on the PTO or someone who was a former board member,” Ross said. “There’s just a lot of excitement about the event.”

Although the time capsule was buried at Northeast School, students from all five elementary schools contributed items.

“The things we valued in 1976 are very much the things we value now – putting our students at the heart of everything,” Ross said. “Every student was represented in that time capsule, every classroom was represented, items that meant a lot to students. I know there’s a former student out there somewhere who wants to come back on June 15 and see their Donald Duck Pez dispenser.”

Ross and her staff have worked with Jean Luddy of the Vernon Historical Society to catalog the items.

Still, the significance of some of the items placed in the time capsule is not clear.

“We’re looking forward to community members helping us piece together more of the history on Monday, June 15.”

All are welcome to visit Northeast School from 5:30 to 8 p.m. on Monday, June 15 to view the items found in the time capsule.