Message to the Future

__"Capsule History" by Lester A. Reingold, in American Heritage (Nov. 1999), Forbes Building, 60 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10011.__

For centuries, humans have carefully stashed artifacts in cornerstones and other secure spots. In the seventh century b.c., for example, King Esarhaddon of Assyria deposited relics and inscriptions of baked clay in the foundations of his monuments. But the time capsule is a distinctly modern and distinctly American invention, explains Reingold, a writer in Washington, D.C.

One key characteristic of the time capsule is a set opening date. The first capsule with this stipulation was an attraction at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia. The "Century Safe" contained photographs, autographs of dignitaries, and a book on temperance. Instructions were left that it be unearthed for the bicentennial celebration of 1976. Three years after the centennial, folthe ambitious mission of "preserving the record of an entire civilization." The Westinghouse capsule was a sleek seven-and-ahalf-foot torpedo that held, among other things, a slide rule, a Lilly Daché woman’s hat, a Bible, and various messages to the "Futurians." Albert Einstein concluded his decidedly mixed overview of the world’s condition in the mid-20th century by saying, "I trust that posterity will read these statements with a feeling of proud and justified superiority." If anybody is around to open the capsule on the appointed day, a little less than 5,000 years from now, they probably will.

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