Dedication Ceremonies

While the large festivities surrounding the dedication of Renfrow Hall happened this weekend, there was another, earlier, ceremony that took place on January 30th–a “topping off” ritual (pictured here) in which select members of the community were invited to sign the final beam that would be hoisted into place to complete the structure of Renfrow Hall. The ritual of “topping off” has a deep roots in Scandinavian and British history, but it is just one of a number of builder’s rites that have evolved over the centuries. Most of Grinnell’s early structures, in fact, had “foundation deposit” ceremonies in which dignitaries gathered important documents, signatures, coins, and other objects that they placed into a symbolic copper box, which they then deposited behind the cornerstone or foundation stone of a new building. These have often been discovered when the older buildings are torn down, such as the example pictured in this 1972 article from the S&B, that discusses the deposit box found when the women’s gym was torn down that summer.  Some of the contents of these earlier boxes was placed in a special time capsule that was ceremonially embedded into the floor of the new Burling Library at its dedication in 1958, with instructions to be opened in 2058. If you’re someone who likes scavenger hunts, I’d encourage you to find the plaque for this time capsule in Burling (it’s in a publicly accessible area).