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Contents of 1901 Boston time capsule revealed

Sculptor and art restorer Robert Shure removes a copper box from a lion statue at a studio, Thursday, Oct. 9, 2014 in Woburn, Mass. Historians and restorers removed and opened a small copper box that has been hidden for more than a century inside the statue, which has been sitting atop Boston's Old State House until it was taken down for refurbishing. Discovered inside the box were a hardcover book, along with papers from 1901, when the time capsule was sealed. Nothing was taken out of the box because of the items' fragile condition. (AP Photo/Steven Senne) Sculptor and art restorer Robert Shure removes a copper box from a lion statue at a studio, Thursday, Oct. 9, 2014 in Woburn, Mass. Historians and restorers removed and opened a small copper box that has been hidden for more than a century inside the statue, which has been sitting atop Boston's Old State House until it was taken down for refurbishing. Discovered inside the box were a hardcover book, along with papers from 1901, when the time capsule was sealed. Nothing was taken out of the box because of the items' fragile condition. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

By Associated Press October 15, 2014 1 min read

BOSTON (AP) – A Boston time capsule dating to 1901 contained letters, photographs, newspaper clippings and the book “Foreign Relations of the United States, 1896.”

The capsule was removed last week from the head of lion statue that has long stood guard over the Old State House. The Bostonian Society, which oversees the historic building, released an inventory of the items Wednesday.

The red hardcover book had been a mystery when the capsule was opened, because it did not have a visible title.

Bostonian Society archivist Elizabeth Roscio said the contents were in remarkably good overall condition.

Also tightly packed into the box were business cards of top elected and appointed officials, and a William McKinley-Theodore Roosevelt presidential campaign button from 1900.