The Spirit of ’76

We are excited to announce the display of items from The Spirit of ’76 vault! While the Historical Society and the Pulaski County Indiana America250 Committee are taking responsibility for this project, these items – everything that went into The Spirit of ’76 from this community – belong to you. They will be available to you to view in a variety of ways.

A temporary display (through July, at least) will be on display at the Museum.
Archives of documents, publications, and artifacts will be available “forever” at the Museum.
Photographs and inventories will be available for viewing on our website.

The Spirit of ’76 is Unearthed!

All photos from the Pulaski County Journal, May 5, 2026, Megan Galbreath, Photographer

A small crowd gathered to watch the uncovering of the U.S. Bicentennial 1976 Time Capsule on the Pulaski County Courthouse lawn on April 24. Pictured (left to right, back): Greg Henry, Jon Frain, Larry Weaver, Steve Morrison (front): Lin Morrison, Kathi Thompson, Rhonda Terry and Dan Frain.
Ground breaks on the search for the 1976 time capsule on the courthouse lawn.
Cleaning extra dirt off reveals the vibrant patriotic colors of the capsule.
The 1976 time capsule is carefully hoisted in the air and set down temporarily on Meridian Street.
The hole was immediately filled in after the time capsule was removed.

Quality of Vaulted Items

For the most part, everything in the vault was preserved as intended. Some moisture came into the vault – from – as far as we can tell – artifacts that were inside. No ground water or moisture was apparent from the opening of the vault. Some possible culprits:

Due to the Courthouse renovation, the vault was unburied for a time. It is possible that having warmed up a bit, then being reburied, moisture was created.
Some items could have brought moisture into the vault. (A lesson we are learning for the vault to be buried in 2027.)
- There was a beer can, totally ruined. Was it full at the time? (We did not find the tab, so it is possible it was empty. It is also possible that moisture was inside the can.)
- At least one battery was inside. (Did we not know, 50 years ago, that batteries corroded?)
- Other items could have been moist at the time of burial.

Documentation & Indexing

To illustrate the breadth of the items that were in The Spirit of ’76, we offer some photos of the process of documentation. What you’ll see in the photographs offered here is a series of “neatly stacked” items and documents. What we had at the beginning was a mess. Things came out of the vault and went onto a table. After two days of trying to create an inventory, an industrious member of the Historical Society took the time to rearrange the tables into “like” items, as much as that was possible. That member, with the help of a friend of the Society, then began the arduous process of handwriting an inventory.

The next step was to begin the process of taking photographs. Some items are photographed only by the cover or front page. For example, the Pulaski County Journal issues are photographed only by the cover. In contrast, letters from every 5^th grader in the County were photographed individually, as were many other items.

Photo 01: This shows a view of the entire room. There are 11 tables stacked with items, and two tables with a special item. We’re also going to share our photography studio!
Photo 02: This table holds only two items: a flag and a T-shirt.
Photo 03: On this table are about a million license plates – we will keep one and PROBABLY allow visitors to take one for a donation – and a certificate announcing Pulaski County as a Bicentennial Community.
Photo 04: This table is mostly filled with scouting items and congratulatory statements from other communities.
Photo 05: This table holds some 4-H items and some items from local businesses.
Photo 06: This table holds items from clubs and local businesses and a beer can (!!) from a local candidate for office. (It’s a familiar name.)
Photo 07: This table holds advertisements and miscellaneous items.
Photo 08: On this table we have information and photographs from county offices, among other things, including a list of Bicentennial committee members.
Photo 09: The Bicentennial official documents and newspapers from Indianapolis and other areas are illustrated on this table.
Photo 10: Publications from Pulaski County and nearby areas are on this table.
Photo 11: Items from local school corporations are on this table. There is a blank area here: that’s because the letters from several 5^th grade classes were in the “photography studio.”
Photo 12: These tables hold a handwritten Declaration of Independence signed by Pulaski County citizens. It is too tall to even be hung from the highest point of the Historical Society Museum.
Photos 13, 14, and 15: These photos illustrate our unprofessional photography studio (we are NOT professional photographers), a sample of how the studio was used (letters from 5^th grade students), and the same studio from a distance.