Conservators on Tuesday opened a 1795 that Revolutionary War hero Paul Revere and Founding Father Samuel Adams had embedded in a cornerstone of the Massachusetts Statehouse at the end of the 18th century, Fox News reported.

The box contained five folded newspapers; a medal depicting George Washington; a silver plaque; various coins, including one dating to 1655; and the seal of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the news channel enumerated.

"This is the most exciting project I've ever worked on," said Pam Hatchfield, who removed the items from the capsule. Hatchfield is the head of objects conservation for Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, where onlookers anxiously watched the unveiling, CNN noted.

Removing the time capsule from the statehouse had taken seven hours in December, and conservators needed another four hours before Tuesday evening's ceremony to loosen the screws that were holding it shut, CNN said.

And then there had been concerns about the condition of the items it contained, which were first discovered in 1855 and apparently shifted to a copper box measuring 5.5 by 7.5 by 1.5 inches, Fox News added.

"Could we actually go through the whole box, or would things prove too fragile to take out?" Malcolm Rogers, the museum's director, mused. "It was like brain surgery, with history looking down on us."

Some of the coins appeared corroded, but other items were in good shape, Fox News noted. On the silver plaque, fingerprints were visible, and Hatchfield observed that the newspapers were in "amazingly good condition," CNN added.

"Though we knew a little bit about what was in the box, it was a moment of extraordinary excitement as this brass container just the size of a cigar box was slowly opened with surgical precision, and you suddenly found yourself in the presence of history," Rogers summarized.

After the conservation process is finished, the contents will go on display at the museum. Some, meanwhile, want to install a new time capsule at the Massachusetts Statehouse.

"The governor has wisely suggested that we might," said Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin. "So we'll think about it."