You've got mail! UWindsor staff surprised with 45-year-old package

It was a blast from the past that shocked University of Windsor admissions staff. On Wednesday, while going through their daily mail, they noticed an envelope not quite like the others. But it was what was inside the package that had staff scratching their heads.

"It was an application package from 1973 that resurfaced unopened," said Mark Trudell, University of Windsor assistant registrar.

The 45-year-old package was sent to a person who was interested in applying to the University of Windsor. It appears it was sent back to the university, only to arrive decades later. 

"It's kind of rare. It's all in good condition. There wasn't a lot of discolour to it. It is kind of a rare little find," explained Trudell.

Inside the envelope were various pamphlets about the school including courses, faculties, and the price of tuition which was between $600 to $700 an academic year.

Trudell said finding the package turned out to be a history lesson on how the university accepted applicants.

"When students inquired about applying we would send out a complete package. There was no Internet and there was no central place for them to go to. So it did bring back memories for me. Maybe not for some of the newer staff,"

The envelope did not contain any postage stamps but did have a mailing address to Toronto along with a return to sender stamp on it. Trudell said he is looking into figuring out how the package got to the university more than four decades later.

"We don't know if it was left in the post office for 40 years — whether our own post office or Canada Post — whether it was shipped to the person's house and left there and something has happened now," explained Trudell.

CBC News reached out Canada Post to see whether they could trace how the package arrived at the office decades later. In an emailed statement to CBC News, spokesperson Sylvie Lapointe said "it is difficult to find out how it got back into our operations after this long. We don't track individual letter mail, so there is no tracking number to refer to, and anyone can drop a found letter in the mail."

In an attempt to solve the mystery, Trudell has been searching the university's database to see whether the person named in the package ended up attending the school.

No match came up in his initial search.

Trudell said he hopes the university preserves this piece of history.

"I'll probably bring it up to other people on campus to see if they want it displayed somewhere but for now I'm just going to keep it here until we find a home for it."