It wasn't all bad

last updated 8 January 2015

It wasn't all bad

When contractor Paul Barnett began tearing down the 11-story Woodward Building in Washington, D.C., he found a battered suitcase. Inside, was a trove of personal items, including family photos, a 1924 high school yearbook, and a handwritten paper titled “The Causes of the World War.” There was only one clue to link the belongings to a potential owner: the name “Shaughnessy” cropped up several times, including a Brian Shaughnessy, who was listed in a 1952 elementary school graduation program. Barnett tracked him down, and Shaughnessy, a 68-year-old local lawyer, established that the suitcase belonged to his family. “I’m so glad to get it,” he said. The items “don’t mean anything to anybody else, but they mean a lot to me.”