A little over a century ago, Cincinnati philanthropist and hospital benefactor Mary Emery helped to support the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine’s (UCCOM) Department of Pediatrics through a gift of $250,000, which equates to more than $3.3 million in today’s dollars. At her request, the department was officially named in honor of her longtime friend and former chair of the department from 1901-1920, Benjamin Knox Rachford, MD. By 1926, UC and Children’s Hospital, today known as Cincinnati Children’s, would affiliate. The college’s pediatrics department would be comprised of the physicians and researchers at Cincinnati Children’s, who would hold UC academic appointments. This past year, the current B.K. Rachford Chair, Tina Cheng, MD, MPH, felt it was important to mark this momentous milestone with several planned initiatives, including a virtual speaker series entitled "Envisioning Our Future for Children," a one-day virtual symposium, and, as the culmination, a commemorative time capsule. “Collectively, we have made important contributions to child health in our missions in clinical care, research, education, and community/advocacy work,” says Cheng, who is also director of the Cincinnati Children’s Research Foundation (CCRF) and chief medical officer of Cincinnati Children’s.

Preserving Our Present Day

Created for members of the Cincinnati Children’s and UCCOM community 100 years in the future, the time capsule project aimed to memorialize the collective experience of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as highlight major accomplishments over the last five years. “It is also a momentous time in history as we are facing a pandemic and planning for the future amid many societal shifts,” Cheng adds. “It seemed like a good time to commemorate what we are going through now.” Led by Cincinnati Children’s Chief of Staff, Patty Manning, MD, more than 40 groups from each partner institution played a significant role in selecting the contents of the time capsule, which include a variety of things, such as:

• COVID-19 pandemic-related items, e.g., Pfizer and Moderna vaccine vials, masks, clinical trial advertisements, building signage, informational videos, and more
• An official proclamation signed by City of Cincinnati Mayor, John Cranley, proclaiming June 8, 2021, as “B.K. Rachford Department of Pediatrics Day” in recognition of the department's 100th birthday
• A 3D heart model
• An implantable cardioverter defibrillator
• A genotyping chip
• Children’s books
• Promotional materials, such as a telehealth brochure, Cincinnati Children’s fact sheet, and cards describing each of the three Child Life facility dogs
• Flash drives with photos and videos, including ones developed for the 100th anniversary symposium that took place on June 8, 2021
• Various mementos, such as commemorative pins, lanyards, and pens
• Research-related publications, including the FY2020 annual report and back issues of Research Horizons magazines
• Copies of prominent research articles, award recognitions, organizational charts, and divisional overviews
• And, many more unique items

Reflecting on Our Past

This is not the first time that Cincinnati Children’s has buried a time capsule. On Dec. 30, 1925, several hospital leaders, philanthropists, clergy, and construction workers gathered for an official ceremony to mark the laying of the cornerstone for the new 200-bed Children’s Hospital building next to the UCCOM. As part of this ceremony, they enclosed several artifacts in a time capsule, including a bible, the Book of Common Prayer, photos of the previous hospital buildings, a history of the hospital, and an address given at the cornerstone laying of the second hospital building in 1887 (see the photo below).

Among the contents, another photo shows William Cooper Procter, who, at the time, was president of Procter & Gamble and chair of the hospital’s Board of Trustees. Procter firmly believed that Children’s Hospital’s ability to thrive depended on a strong academic affiliation with the UCCOM, as it would allow the organization to attract the best and brightest talent. Soon after, as construction on the new Children’s Hospital was nearing completion, the relationship between Cincinnati Children's and the UCCOM became official upon execution of an affiliation agreement (pictured). It was further strengthened by a transformational $2.5 million endowment from Procter in 1928, which helped paved the way for the organization to become a global leader in child health. Nearly a century later and countless achievements that changed the outcome for millions of children around the world, this same time capsule was unearthed and opened at a ceremony marking the official closing of the 1926 hospital on October 24, 2003. The 1926 time capsule items are stored in the Cincinnati Children’s archives, in the Mitchell-Nelson Library, on the third level of Location-R. The organization’s archives team has been instrumental in helping to preserve and promote various artifacts and moments in history.