My Genie Time Capsule

Copyright 2012, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

Bill West, of the blog West in New England, has challenged us to write about time capsules.  He wrote:

......... if I were going to leave a time capsule for someone to open a century from now, what would I leave in it? What things from my every day life, what family memories would I want to pass on to future relatives?


What would you put in YOUR time capsule?


1. Make a list of what you would put in a time capsule and why you'd choose each item.


2. What would you use for the time capsule? Where would you have it kept?

And, after a short bit of contemplation, my response is:

As a family historian I would want to leave my work in a time capsule, trouble is, with technology continuing to explode, what format would still be viable in 100 years?? Heavens with the speed of advances, what format might be viable in only 20 years, ok, even in 5 years??

Safest, probably still is hard copy, aka,  printed book. I have one family line book published, hopes for another, but, it has grown so huge that I am not sure I can afford to print it. This sure is a quandary, and I have yet to come up with a satisfactory answer. So, for now, burn up a few printers, spend a lot of $ on ink, and print my data base out. Better buy stock in ink companies, all this multimedia is really gonna suck up the $$$$$.

Just for jollys, I would include a tablet loaded with my family history loaded on it (don't forget extra batteries or the charger), maybe a thumb drive, also loaded. Forget the CDs and DVDs, they already seem to be on the way out.

I also need to continue to photograph and document my heirlooms, a few of my craft projects, my favorite photos (old and new). These photographs portray who I am, and who my family is. I want to include them, to share with the future family what was important to me and why. Storage and presentation formats, see the paragraph above. Oh, I link photos of these types of things to my data base, to both the person that originally owned the artifact, and to my own entry on the data base stating I have temporary custody of that artifact.

Next, where is my time capsule going to be kept?? Well, how about an underground bomb shelter. That should keep it safe for a while (and just think, I could actually store some of the family artifacts and antiques in here).  It might look like this one.  This site has some fabulous ideas, temporary shelters and down towards the bottom of the page, the comfy homey style.  And, here we go, I can keep Man busy for a month or so building me one of these.  Note:  this image was found at this site, I have no idea where they obtained it.

All kidding aside, have you thought about what you might put in a time capsule and where and how you would store it?  I think I need to go back to the planning boards a bit on this one, I really don't think Man would go for this bomb shelter idea , just saying - -

*Book graphic from web site, URL long lost, my apologies to the creator.  Thank you.

** Painting of water fowl swimming, last art project by my grandmother, Florence.
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