Your Time Capsule Project: the Basics

The Basics of Any Time Capsule Project

Matt Young and his Mr Future
All Waxed & Ready to Bury

The purpose of any Your Time Capsule Project starts with a protective container! is (1) the successful outreach to citizens both in present day and future groups, (2) to provide Kits for safe-keeping of items and cultural memories such as is found in documents, photos, ephemera when saved for a long time, and (3) analysis of how things are or how they have become.

Outreach to People - Present and Future

What’s the most important part of your time capsule project? You and your group.

Yes, people. People will support you, and they’ll argue with you. People can make or break a time capsule project. Some people will come up with good ideas and yet others will give you bad ones.

We help our customers with #1 & #3 by providing written material and information - and there is plenty of information and research online about these things already. Please see the following leaflets written by me and provided along with most of the time capsules that we provide:

1. 12 Tips to Planning a Successful Time Capsule Project
2. Preservation Hints for Time Capsule Items
3. 100 Time Capsule Ideas: Things to Put in a Time Capsule
4. Preserving Newspapers

These first 3 basic leaflets are important for you to read when you do a time capsule project. Preserving Newspapers is informative if you are storing newspapers. At one time we provided 12 Tips and Preservation Hints to our website visitors. However, due to blatant web scraping of our information and no credit along with little feedback from potential customers, we now only provide the information in their printed format to our customers. This is copyrighted information, and original.

When all is said and done, it’s up to you to deal with your people side. We feel it’s part of our mission to help you think about the other things. What our specialty is - and what the customer finds most difficult - is #2. We feel it is our job to provide the best quality time capsule and plaque (and archival supplies) so that what the future citizens open is not a mucky, muddy mess.

Your Stuff

What you put into your time capsule may be the next most important thing to consider after you deal with the people issue.
You’ll read all about things to include in the capsule and what not to include. Just choose things that are important to you and your group and give priority to original things. See our leaflet “100 Ideas for Time Capsule Contents” for lots of ideas you can use and revise to fit your circumstances.

Where you’ll place the time capsule and contents

Next consider where you want to put the time capsule. Do you have a niche in a building or a place under an entryway? Is it a relatively protected area (a cornerstone) or a well protected area (inside of a building’s archives) or underground? This matters.

When it’ll be opened again

Along with the placement you plan for the time capsule, you’ll want to consider the length of time for interment. This matters, too. If the length of time is short and the placement is protective, you won’t need to be so concerned about the container. Just be sure it’s archival plastic or an archival box to protect the items from dust and light and pollution and humidity found in normal indoor conditions.

Your Time Capsule Container

How then do you choose a container? If the length of interment is short and the placement is protective, you may be able to choose an archival plastic container or something quite inexpensive. Perhaps even the Smithsonian toy sold on Amazon would do, or one of those time capsules with a foam gasket would be all right. A glass canning jar might do just fine (keep it out of the light). Use silica gel, and if the capsule is air tight, use oxygen absorbers (we sell Ageless).

But most time capsule projects are bolder than the put-it-on-a-shelf kind you might do for a baby time capsule. For those more ambitious time capsule projects, our mission is to help you think about what you might need for those conditions.

We offer 4 sizes of affordable time capsule cylinders, our Future Line – and all are 304 stainless steel. They feature threaded caps and use a silicone sealant to finish and seal it. Their lids can be engraved. See our gallery of time capsule photos.

If you need a larger size and a box shape, we offer 3 time capsule types, also made of stainless steel 304. One is the Bolted 3000 (the heaviest duty and best designed) and it can be buried without an outer enclosure. Another is the simple Capped Cornerstone 4200 (most popular). All are made in the USA and made one at a time. We offer engraving as an option on the lids.

Marking the Spot

Nothing works better for remembering a time capsule placement than a plaque to mark the ceremony or mark the spot.

For indoor placement, a simple etched plaque may work just fine. For outdoors, however, consider a Outdoor Quality Bronze or Aluminum Plaques. An etched stainless steel plaque will also work fine for outdoors.

To save money, consider purchasing one of our Easy to Use Time Capsule Packages. The packages include a stainless steel time capsule container, a preservation kit to match, and a cast aluminum plaque that you can upgrade to a bronze plaque. We take the prices for each of those items and take 10% off the total. We have categorized them by price: for Small Turnkey Time Capsule Packages, Medium Turnkey Time Capsule Packages, and Large Turnkey Time Capsule Packages budgets.

Don't Be Afraid to Ask Questions

Any questions about these things, please contact us. If we can, we’ll try to help. For most folks, placing a time capsule for the first time is a daunting task. There are lots of things to think about. However, we've been in business with folks just like you for over 25 years, and we understand the first-timer's learning curve.

And just give us a phone call to request one of our pamphlets!
Or see our contact form online here: CONTACT US NOW!