A statue has finally been removed from Albany City Hall, but treasures are still being unsealed.
The Major General Phillip Schuyler statue that has stood outside of city hall for nearly 100 years came down this month three years after Mayor Kathy Sheehan announced its removal. A plaque on the base of the statue revealed there was a time capsule placed inside. Department of General Services employees cut through concrete in hopes of finding it.
In the box was a deed placing the contents in the mayor’s ownership.
“This box and its contents are hereby given to the mayor or chief executive officer of the city of Albany, New York to be placed by him, how cute, in the custody of a historical society of the city of Albany which in his judgement shall be best fitted to use and preserve the same,” said Mayor Sheehan, reading from the deed.
While a permanent home for the monument is still being worked out, Sheehan says the Albany Institute of History and Art, which had members present at the monument’s original dedication, will be archiving the artifacts.
“And we presume this is where they will be housed permanently but for now the job at hand is to catalogue them and determine how best to preserve them and to get an understanding of the significance of what is here,” said Sheehan.
Curator Diane Shewchuk showed off several items from the capsule that were not sealed including an American flag with 48 stars, currency, and a much anticipated full 10-volume set of the annals of Albany.
“Included in here are a little bit of biographical information about Philip Schuyler, “said Shewchuk. “Also letters to Mayor Hackett suggesting the gift of the statue.”
She says the Institute hopes to finish the archival process in the next few months and then open an exhibition.
“I’m so looking forward to the stories we can tell with the contents, with the letters, with the photographs,” said Shewchuk. “We did peek at a number of things. And we’ll do an exhibition with all of these things this fall.”
Sheehan says with rain in the forecast, workers were racing to find the capsule.
“They had inadvertently hit it because they were trying to just remove concrete,” said Sheehan. “We had no indication of where it was and so the top was damaged and some of that packing material was pulling through the top.”
But Shewchuk says no items were damaged.
“That’s the most amazing thing. That it was all in pristine condition,” said Shewchuk.
The statue is in storage awaiting a more permanent home. Sheehan says many have raised suggestions on where it should be placed and the city is working to find a new home.
“We have legislation pending in front of the Albany Common Council to create a monuments commission and that monuments commission will determine where the next location for the statue should be,” said Sheehan. “There have been a number of suggestions but many of those suggestions have been places that are not city-owned property. And so were going to be looking first at city-owned property and if there are other suggestions or recommendations, we would need to talk to the owners of those properties that are suggested or recommended including the Schuyler Mansion.”
Sheehan says the city will announce more information about the artifacts as it’s determined.