Creswell, Oregon's Time Capsule

With the state of Oregon celebrating its 150th anniversary and the city of Creswell observing its 100th this year, an ad hoc committee has begun working with city officials and area residents to collect and preserve historic materials for future Creswellians to open and view in 2059.

August 9, 2009, exactly 100 years after the city was incorporated, a dedication ceremony will be held, during which a time capsule, a hermetically sealed container, will be placed in a cavity under the lobby floor in the new city hall currently under construction. The question is: what should be placed in this sealed container?

While it would be easy to place hundreds of documents and photographs on CDs or DVDs, technological change is progressing so rapidly that it is highly unlikely that a method of accessing data preserved by today's high-tech methods would exist in 2059.

Similarly, even when sealed in a container designed specifically for long-term preservation of its contents, many organic materials, including newsprint, decompose rapidly, and are not suitable for long-term preservation.

You can read more at: http://www.thecreswellchronicle.com/news/story.cfm?story_no=6347.

Comments

[Barbara Froebel]

Hi Dick,

Thanks for the trip down memory lane! I did some growing up on a 60 acre farm in Creswell in the 50s, back when the population was only 500!
One of my favorite memories was visiting the Holt family when they adopted 8 Korean orphans (at one time) - in addition to their own 5.

Creswell was a lot greener than San Antonio!

Thanks again

[mary]

The middle school opened a time capsule from about 50 years ago. The only thing that deteriorated was a paper clip. Maybe putting it into the side of a building, like they did at the school, would help preserve it.