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May 4, 2009

Making a Genealogy Time Capsule Part 3

Once you have your Genealogy Time Capsule made, you're ready to take the final step. You can hide it inside a building or outside.

You can hide it in the rafters of an attic, or above the pipes or duct-work in a basement. Behind the insulation works well too. If you happen to be renovating, hide it in the walls!

You can bury it - choose a prominent landmark (a tree, a boulder, etc) if you want to remember where it is.

Choose the driest spot you can find. For example on top of a hill is better than in a low lying area or a ditch.

A good location is under your deck or porch, as it is dry and near a house.

If you have a walkway or patio you could lift one of the stones and bury it underneath.

Remember, you are wrapping your time capsule in many many layers of plastic if it's being buried outside so don't worry about someone in the future mistaking it for junk! I'm quite sure their curiosity would compell them to unwrap it.

You can make this very ceremonial by including your children or grandchildren. Have them plant a tree on top of the spot you have chosen. Impress on them that they are to show or tell their children where it is. In turn those children are to tell the next generation and so on until the date you have chosen for it to be dug up and opened.

I was in Guelph this weekend for my parents' Memorial Service. My two oldest grandchilden (age 11 and 9) were there so I told them about the Genealogy Time Capsule. They were intrigued and enthused, and looking forward to making one on their annual week-long stay at our home this summer. We have decided to establish a date - perhaps July 1st which is Canada Day, and a year, when the Genealogy Time Capsule is to be opened. We left them discussing whether they want to open the Genealogy Time Capsule 50 years from now in their lifetime, or 250 years from now!

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I have a question about capsule housings you mentioned. You mention PVC pipe and some other plastics. Should one check to make sure that these items do not have chemicals that would damage paper items for capsules destined to be opened in the far future?

Olive Tree Genealogy said...

I don't think there's a huge concern as PVC piping is made to not break down or degrade for many many years. It is also commonly used to run drinking water through so it isn't considered toxic.

Unknown said...

I was a photography teacher for many years, and I'm pretty sure at one time in the past we were told to stop using polyvinylchloride (PVC) containers for negative and photo storage because it broken down into an acid over time as it broke down. We were told to change to polyethylene.