Building the Ultimate Structure: America's First Commercial Time Capsule

Building a time capsule for the ages. This is the type of project that captures and captivates our imaginations like no other. The Web site mytimeship.com proposes to plan and build a time capsule with a capacity of twenty thousand cubic feet. Currently the scheduled sealing of the capsule is set for the year 2020, a mere ten years from now. Thinking in terms of size, twenty thousand cubic feet sounds like a huge space, yet it is equivalent to a twenty two hundred square foot home with nine foot ceilings. According to the National Association of Home Builders, this is smaller than the average size home in the United States by a hundred and thirty square feet.

The real challenges that face the project are not the time required to build, but rather what to build with. Traditionally time capsules are built out of stainless steel, acrylics or coated concrete and these are usually buried. These materials are perfect for the average size capsule of two to ten cubic feet but for a capsule the size of a home, material choice has to be perfect. As it has been pointed out, if the materials used are usable by future generations (as most materials will be) the capsule could be destroyed just for it's materials, much like the white marble that has been stripped from the pyramids in Egypt.

Personally, I believe that Granite would be the perfect material for the exterior of the capsule as it erodes at a rate of one inch for every ten thousand years. Upon hearing this statistic, Gutzon Borglum the sculptor of Mount Rushmore added twelve inches to George Washington's nose so that it would last another hundred thousand years. I am also of the opinion that the capsule should be built above ground so that it could become an attraction in itself. Once the program has progressed to the point that it has enough information to be filled, the Web site will hold a design competition to help meet all of these challenges.

The largest known time capsule built so far is the Crypt of Civilization which is about two thousand cubic feet. The Crypt is part of the foundation of Phoebe Hearst Memorial Hall at Oglethorpe University in Atlanta and was originally a swimming pool. Oglethorpe University is also the home of the International Time Capsule Society which was established in an attempt to keep track of the world's time capsules. It has been estimated that over ten thousand time capsules have been lost to history so far.

During the construction of the Crypt of Civilization the National Bureau of Standards in Washington D.C. provided professional and technical assistance. They also helped develop the best methods for preserving the contents of the Crypt. The Crypt was sealed on May 25, 1940 and is scheduled to be opened in the year 8113. If you look up the Crypt of Civilization on Wiki, you can read an abbreviated list of its contents which include mundane items from everyday life.

So, why would anyone attempt to build a commercial time capsule when there are so many private and corporate capsules out there? According to time capsule historian William Jarvis, "Most intentional time capsules do not provide much useful historical information, they are typically filled with useless junk in new and pristine condition that tells little about the people of the time." The commercial time capsule allows everyone a chance to participate by providing the type of information that would be of value to future historians.

Exactly what would be of value to future historians, you might ask? First and foremost, stories from your life, about your family, your job and your pictures. Notes from friends, love letters, Valentines day cards, Christmas cards and Christmas letters. We don't believe that magnetic media such as Cd's, DVD's, VHS tapes etc will be of much value as they will degrade rather long before the capsule is opened. Acid free paper and envelopes are probably the best choice of media as they will stand the test of time. In fact, books written before modern paper manufacturing techniques tend to fair better as the acid in modern books cause them to decay quickly.

Is this time capsule completely commercial? No, part of the space will be dedicated to the governments of the world so that they can attempt to immortalize their particular cultures. Is this the only capsule planned? No, after the construction of the first time capsule, the site intends to build a series of capsules to be opened in five hundred year increments. This will keep historians abreast of our "primitive" culture throughout history. How do we know that the capsule wont be lost? Not only will a trust be set up to preserve and protect the capsule, but it will be registered with the International Time Capsule Society.

Can anyone contribute to the capsule? Absolutely, in fact it is encouraged. The fact is, the site would like to have to build a capsule ten times the projected size. How will you insure that future historians can even read the materials inside? The Crypt of Civilization solved that problem by including a system to teach our language to the historians who open it. Not only will they include a system such as that but they will also include a complete world map in bronze relief showing political divisions, topography and current place names. There will also be a "Rosetta Stone" of bronze added to the capsule which will be written in as many languages as possible. This will help the historians of the future translate media from foreign countries, as the entire world is invited to contribute.

Although the capsule is a commercial venture, it actually belongs to everyone. The site encourages your suggestions as to what should be included. They also hope to attract corporate sponsors to offset the long term costs of overseeing the project. Corporate sponsors will be honored in direct relation to their contribution to the project. The site also hopes to develop a long term media storage system comparable to the systems used by NASA on its Voyager Golden Record. However, all of this is dependent on the public's participation. Don't you want to be remembered forever?