Modern Time Capsules

By Carole Holt

People in many countries all around the world are making time capsules and placing them inside walls of new buildings, into the floors of shopping malls and into the new squares or centre places of towns and cities. What are these time capsules? Who are they made for? Why are they being made?

Time capsules are containers mostly made out of non-corrosive metal or non-degradable PVC. The important thing about these containers is their endurance through time, whether they are sunk into deep mine shafts, placed into the brickwork or stonework of town centres or just given as presents for personal or family history preservation. These time capsules contain the items deemed important to the everyday life of a person it the year it is assembled: photographs of what we look like today, photographs of the family, of the houses we live in and public buildings. CDs of children’s voices explaining about their school, their family and friends; CDs of today's music, small items that we use, letters explaining who and what we are and what we do with our lives at this time or even letters to the future. This is all part of us, we are the people of the world today, part of the world’s living history.

Why do we feel the need for a time capsule? There are books being written today in most known languages on almost every conceivable subject all around the world, books written by experts in their specialized fields. What can a time capsule give the people of the future in terms of knowledge about us that a book cannot give? I think the answer to that question is the ability to touch our time; to handle and feel the items that we use in our every day lives; you cannot get this by just reading a book. A book can give you a great deal of knowledge about a subject but it cannot give you the extra dimensions of sight, smell, sound and touch. Without these extra dimensions we tend to substitute our own preconceptions and these may be very far from the truth, as they are based on a world that we see in our own time.

The time capsule is made to convey something about us today to the future, whether that is in 5 years, 25 years, 100 years or 1000’s of years into the unknown. It can be for a school reunion in 5 years containing photos, letters and music that were the height of fashion, a reminder of the years when they were at school. A time capsule could be given to a newly born baby not to be opened until he or she is 25 years old, or assembled by a young soon to be married couple. Imagine a a gift from grandparents or great-grandparents, containing bits and pieces from their era to be treasured forever.

It could be a thank you to local people for their support in making possible the building of a local school or hospital, a list of names and the support these people gave, all sealed in a time capsule that will not be undone until the building is pulled down. Then there are the time capsules of a company, containing a researched history into the company’s beginnings, original documents, photos and early artifacts of the company. Most of these larger time capsules are placed inside walls or sunk into the foundations of buildings with a suitable plaque.

A time capsule as well as being a link into the past for future generations can also serve as a memory into our own personal past. Memories tend to fade or get distorted with time, occasions that at the time we feel are impossible to forget: our Wedding Day, the arrival of a baby, Graduation Day from University and Grandma & Grandpa’s Golden Wedding Anniversary. Of course we don’t forget the main event just the little things that made the event so memorable.

On a Wedding Day the little handkerchief that mother used during the service, father and the best man’s speech and the little blue garter given by a best friend to the bride and the unofficial photos and letters of congratulation could be saved inside a time capsule. The Wedding Day time capsule can be saved to be opened on an Anniversary in the future bringing all those precious memories flooding back.

Opening a Baby’s Time Capsule when the ‘baby’ is a young adult perhaps on their 18th or 21st birthday at home surrounded by family and friends would be a fun event. The look of amazement on the son or daughter’s face as they see what the time capsule contains: a newspaper from the day they were born, a TV guide, a fashion magazine, the little hospital hats and booties, a newborn size diaper, hospital discharge weight and height sheets, clippings of hair from baby's first hair cut and all the many other little things that could be accumulated and saved into a time capsule.

A personal time capsule may say words that were never spoken out aloud: in the Wedding Day capsule, the deep feeling the couple held for each other. In the Baby time capsule it can show a young person how much they were wanted as a baby and member of a family; a Graduation Day time capsule may show the deep sense of pride the family has for the young graduate and for grandparents a Wedding Anniversary time capsule can show the love, warmth and the deep gratitude felt by all members of the family. A personal time capsule can show something very important, it can show you care and that the items inside the capsule mean something very special to you.

In the public domain there are the millennium time capsules that have been and still are being buried all around the world to mark the year 2000 and our entry into the 21st century. How many will survive a 1000 years into the future? How many will be lost or destroyed because they have not been marked with a plaque and registered with The International Time Capsule Society (this is the only society in the world in which you can register a time capsule).

It is very easy to think at the time of burying a large time capsule how can we possibly forget where we placed it, but time capsules do get forgotten as one generation passes to another, plaques sometimes get removed and are not replaced, old papers that have been passed down with instructions as to the whereabouts of a capsule missing perhaps lost for ever and so unfortunately are the time capsules. The International Time Capsule Society has many lost time capsules on its books and very few have been found.

In a 1000 years from now will people understand who and what we are and what we have tried to achieve? The answer may all depend on the items inside our time capsules.