Civil War bonds and old advertising posters are among the long-forgotten artifacts found in a mysterious vault at the New Hampshire Statehouse on Monday.
The six-by-10-foot space is at the top of a narrow spiral staircase in a room that served as the state treasury in the 1800s and later as the single location of the Department of Motor Vehicles. Today, it’s assigned to the Senate Finance Committee.
Inside were shelves of state treasury records, old posters promoting New Hampshire tourism, and state hospital records, to name a few.
Civil War bonds (pictured), state treasury records, state hospital records and old advertising posters are among the long-forgotten artifacts found in a mysterious vault at the New Hampshire Statehouse on Monday
Officials originally thought the vault, manufactured in 1884, had been locked since the 1950s, but boxes of financial documents from the 1970s were among the items found.
According to the New Hampshire Union Leader, House Speaker Shawn Jasper has been pushing for years to have the centuries-old vault in Room 103 at the State House broken into.
The door was opened at 10am as schedule in front of an audience that included lawmakers, staffers and interested members of the public.
‘There is stuff in there well over a century old,’ House Chief of Staff Terry Pfaff told the newspapers.
Among the items were cancelled $500 war bonds from 1861, issued by Nashua Trust, and records of general obligation bonds from the 1930s.
‘These are things that could have been lost forever. It sounds like someone messed up the combination, which is why it remained locked for so many years,’ he said.
Officials originally thought the vault, manufactured in 1884, had been locked since the 1950s, but boxes of financial documents from the 1970s were among the items found. Most of the material will end up in the State Archive (Pictured, House Chief of Staff Terry Pfaff, left, and House Speaker Shawn Jasper inspect a book found in the vault)
The six-by-10-foot space is at the top of a narrow spiral staircase in a room that served as the state treasury in the 1800s and later as the single location of the Department of Motor Vehicles at the New Hampshire Statehouse (pictured)
Most of the material will end up in the State Archive, although Pfaff said some items could be put on display at the State House in the Visitors Center
‘I think the contents are pretty exciting,’ he said. ‘I was expecting to find nothing, so to go in and find Civil War records of who purchased war bonds, a lot of documents on highway funds and the state hospital… there’s a lot of information in there that probably doesn’t exist anywhere else. It’s a nice find.’
Senate President Chuck Morse didn’t attend, but played a bit of a joke on House Speaker Shawn Jasper by having a photo of himself slipped into the vault.
Morse had not been keen on the idea of opening the safe with such fanfare.