contents: photographs, hair, soil

July 23, 2003 6:03 AM

Not to be opened before 6970. The Osaka Time Capsule was buried in 1970 and contained 2008 objects (listed here). Two identical units were built, one of which is not be opened until the year 6970. That's a mighty long time to wait. Oglethorpe University's International Time Capsule Society is attempting to collect a comprehensive database of the world's time capsules, most of which, it appears, are missing. Online mini-time capsules can me made at dMarie.com. Alternatively, make your own or buy a proper one.
posted by nylon (11 comments total)

i once made a time capsule when i was 6 - i put a picture of me in it, a lock of my hair, a lemon sherbert and a picture of a train. i buried it in our garden, but i got really impatient and dug it up after a fortnight.
posted by nylon at 6:06 AM on July 23, 2003

Great post, nylon. Love the list of missing time capsules.
posted by rory at 6:25 AM on July 23, 2003

The NY Times (reg. required blah blah) has an excellent and fascinating collection of articles from 1999 discussing how to build a time capsule that will actually serve its purpose and be opened in XXXX years.

Great post, nylon!
posted by arco at 6:32 AM on July 23, 2003

hello, my baby! hello, my honey! hello, my ragtime gal!
posted by crunchland at 7:12 AM on July 23, 2003

i guess that bio-weapon time capsules probably wouldn't be such a hot idea, yeah?
posted by th3ph17 at 8:14 AM on July 23, 2003

From arco's link:

Then one of the boys spoke up. "Put a bomb in there so that when they open it, it blows up in their faces." He laughed, then thought better of his idea. "But then they might get in a time machine and start killing us."

Ahhhh. Out of the mouths of babes, indeed....

Excellent post, nylon.
posted by contessa at 9:00 AM on July 23, 2003

Has ANY time capsule ever been recovered? I can't recall ever seeing a news story about that.

Great post, nylon; they've always appealed to me -- both the process of deciding what's important to save for the future, and the idea of getting a slice of the past. It was great fun when I got to participate in burying one in downtown Atlanta a few years ago.
posted by Vidiot at 9:31 AM on July 23, 2003

Possibly of interest: The Oregon Historical Society had recently just given up on a time capsule placed by Teddy Roosevelt inside of a Lewis and Clark memorial. Apparently it isn't worth it to damage the memorial to get at a few pennies, a postage stamp and some wood. But think of all that copper, a whole box of it!
posted by mnology at 10:02 AM on July 23, 2003

In a Nevada mountainside, the Long Now Foundation is building a clock designed to last 10,000 years.
posted by Vidiot at 10:16 AM on July 23, 2003

In a way, geocaches are like miniature, evolving, short-term time capsules.
posted by acridrabbit at 10:29 AM on July 23, 2003

One that won't be lost is (self-link warning) Capsule Day, a Time Capsule that is Never Buried.
posted by soyjoy at 11:53 AM on July 23, 2003