Time in a Box

Maybe you participated in one at school, selecting some objects to be locked away, or maybe you saw one being opened. I’m writing, of course, about that strange cultural phenomenon, the time capsule. There was a flurry of time capsules being created or opened through the second half of the twentieth century, reaching a peak around the year 2000.

Although the term “time capsule” was coined at the 1939 New York World’s Fair, time capsules as a concept date back to the Gilded Age and Progressive Era, when autographs, photographs, and other artifacts were sealed in various cities. But to what purpose? According to historian Nick Yablon,

the frequency of time capsule deposits at the time of important anniversaries (of the nation or of states and cities) and at the turn of centuries (most recently, the millennium) might lead us to conclude that they operate merely as commemorative objects, providing an occasion for patriotic self-congratulation and momentary political consensus.

But he explains that the impetus behind “time vessels,” as he calls them, was more nuanced, reflecting the politics and controversies of the era.

Leave a Comment