Time capsule is a container filled with items that represent a particular culture or era. The container is sealed to preserve these items as a historical record for the future. Time capsules vary in their contents, location, and size. Most are intended to be opened after a specified period. Time capsules might include such items as a letter written to oneself to be read in the future, examples of a society’s recorded knowledge, or a distinctive article of clothing. The phrase time capsule first described a container buried by the Westinghouse company in 1938 at the New York World’s Fair. It was scheduled to be opened in 6939. The phrase may also refer to an object or archaeological site that vividly represents the past.
About 5,000 years ago, Mesopotamians sealed devotional objects in building foundations for later generations to find. The first known time capsule with a fixed retrieval date was the Century Safe, sealed at the Philadelphia Exposition in 1876 and opened in 1976. The 2,000-cubic-foot (57-cubic-meter) Crypt of Civilization in Atlanta, Georgia, holds thousands of items. It includes a small windmill, encyclopedia texts, tools, motion-picture film, toys, and much more. Sealed in 1940, it was scheduled to be opened in 8113.
