Baldwin Hall Time Capsule: A Cornerstone of Hopkins History

After the capsule’s reveal, students commented on how the capsule impacted their perspective on school history. Ella Rinaldi ’26 said that “I’ve always found it cool that our school is that old. This capsule definitely emphasizes that, and also [got me] thinking a lot about the historical aspects of our school.” She also expressed gratitude for Hopkins’ long history: “I’m excited to carry on these traditions – [I’m] thankful that Hopkins can have them.” Dide Arat ’27 shared a similar sentiment, remarking that “even though it’s only my first year here, Baldwin’s capsule gave me a new appreciation for our school’s past, our school today, and the memories we’re creating that will eventually be looked back on.” 

While the time capsule was a lesson on Hopkins’s extensive history, it was also a reminder of how the school’s diversity has grown in the past century. “[In 1925 the school’s students were] all men [and…] only white,” Roberts said. “[The school’s] foundational mission, purpose, goals [are] the same, but who gets to experience it [...] is profoundly different.” Rinaldi noted that this change was especially prevalent in the curriculum, such as “in the language department: [Hopkins] offered German and Greek, but no Chinese.” 

For many, the capsule also highlighted the school’s shift in culture, with more emphasis on student expression and exploration than rigid discipline. History teacher and speaker at the event Scott Wich said that “our values today are certainly less strict.” Objects in the capsule displayed this, Wich explained: “The [school handbook] reflected the intense ‘bringing up of hopeful youths,’ molding them as such through the curriculum and discipline.” Podoltseva agreed that “Hopkins looked way harder back then.” Peters said that after the move to Westville, though, “sports became a big part of the program here at school.” The suburban campus location provided the space for this with the original Pratt field, now a part of the Yale Bowl, being put into use for athletics. Additionally, “the arts also [began] to take off after the 1920s and into the 1930s,” Peters said. Podoltseva commented on the role of both: “Our inclusion of arts and sports – it allows for more self-expression, and makes our community more vibrant and diverse.”

With the reveal of Baldwin’s time capsule, Hopkins students and faculty expressed their thoughts on the time capsule buried in the Academics and Performing Arts Center, APAC, and the importance of time capsules in understanding school history. Which reflected on the capsule’s reveal: “It’s interesting to think of a hundred years from now about the capsule future Hopkins students pull out of the new APAC cornerstone, and if they’re going to be saying the same things we have about us and our legacy,” Ravi Camenga ’28 said. Additionally, he thought that “it’s cool [...] how people in the next 100 years will respond to a time capsule opening. [Will they] already know about the culture of today because of the internet?”