17
Back to the Future
It’s been fun, and through genealogy, you’ve gotten to know your whole family better, maybe going back to long before you were born. Now, what would you like family members still to come—your children, your children’s children, and great- and grandnephews and nieces—to know about you? Why not put together a personal time capsule? You can leave them all a unique message that says, “Hello!” What better way is there to bring together your whole family—past, present, and future?
The hardest part of a time capsule is deciding what to put inside. But whatever you do, don’t forget to include copies of your family tree research. You’ll be saving your descendants from having to do all that information gathering all over again.
WHAT YOU NEED:
a container (coffee can, cookie tin, small box, plastic bag, or wrapping)
markers
a safe place
items that say “my time”
What do you think your great-great grandkids would want to know about you and your time? What will you put into your time capsule?
1. PHOTOS: Put together a small photo album showing your family at work and play—how they live and dress. Label or caption each photo with the person’s name and the date the photo was taken, and where. Remember to include pictures of yourself, your friends, your room—after all, this is your capsule!
2. CLOTHING: What are the latest styles? Put in a pair of your favorite shoes or the jeans that you’ve just outgrown. Show you’re a fan—include a baseball cap with the name of your favorite team.
3. TECHNOLOGY: Tuck in some kinetic sand or some Lego architecture pieces. Cut out ads with prices for other “wish list” items—in the far future, they may not even be a memory.
4. FOOD: Avoid treating generations of ants to your favorite candy bar—a neatly flattened wrapper or two will do. What do you like to eat? Include a list in the time capsule. Maybe the finder of your time capsule will have the same taste in food.
5. NEWSPAPERS: Today’s headlines! Newspaper decays, so protect paper items in heavy plastic, or laminate clippings that mean something special to you and your family.
MORE STUFF FOR YOUR TIME CAPSULE
Want to get closer to your family to come? Maybe someday you’ll sit in a rocker and tell your grandkids stories about when you were their age. Maybe even your great-grandchildren. But your time capsule may not be found until after you’re gone, and you’re living now. So, here’s your chance. Write a letter to those future generations.
HERE’S AN EXAMPLE:
Dear great-great-great-great-grandchildren,
My name is Elaine. It’s 2017 and I’m eleven.
Living in Boston is lots of fun because there’s so much to do: museums and shopping and movies and just hanging out and playing Frisbee in the Boston Common. I intend to be an award-winning scientist when I grow up.
TAKING THE GRAND TOUR
In 1962, Jacqueline Kennedy, the wife of President John F. Kennedy, gave TV viewers a historic guided tour of the White House. Why not treat your grandkids, or great-great grandkids, to a guided tour of the place you call home?
Do you have a video or regular camera? You can use that, or your phone, to produce your own tour. Start from the outside of your house and work your way in. Label your photos, or write or talk about what each room is used for—here’s where I beat my brother at chess. Here’s where my mother writes her novels. Point out interesting facts. This is the desk where I wrote my first short story! Here’s where I go when I’m in a bad mood and want to be by myself. Make the tour as personal as you’d like—it’s for your family, after all.
DO NOT OPEN UNTIL . . .
Assemble everything into your time capsule. Identify it and mark it with a “Do not open until” date: twenty years into the future, thirty years, maybe fifty years. Even New Year’s Eve 2100 (although you may not be around to see it)! On your genealogy page in your notebook, make a note about the time capsule (the date you made it up and where you put it) so that it is not forgotten and lost forever. Make sure that it is properly protected, and then put it away somewhere.
Where will you put your time capsule?
In the backyard: If you bury it, draw a map to remind yourself where it is. Protect the time capsule from water and other damage by wrapping it in strong plastic bags or sheeting.
Hidden under a staircase, or behind a loose board in a wall: Out of sight, out of mind.
In the attic: Put it out of the way, so it isn’t accidentally tossed out the next time Dad has a cleaning fit up there.
In your closet: You can keep an eye on it there, but snoopy siblings may get curious.
Just as you’ve discovered generations of your family going back a hundred or so years, there probably will be generations of your family going forward many years. Can you imagine that?
In The Time Machine, written by H. G. Wells, a man invents a machine to travel into the future. He remains in one place, sitting in the time machine in the basement of his house. Through his basement window, he can see a dummy in the window of a shop nearby. As he is “traveling,” he watches the hem of the mannequin’s dress get shorter, then longer, then shorter, then wider—as styles change through the years. Suddenly, the little shop window disappears—and he’s there in the future!
Imagine your own home. Will it still be there in twenty years? Or fifty years? What will things be like in one hundred years? Will houses be built on the ground, under ground, or stretch way up into the sky? Will there be speedy flyers hovering around, instead of streets and long highways filled with cars?
Imagine you are all grown up. Maybe you’re married. What does your wife or husband look like? What kind of work do you do? What do your kids look like? Do people tell you that your children have your same crooked smile? Do your kids have a dog or a cat like you used to at their age? Did you just remember the date you put on your time capsule? Now imagine four and five generations of your family getting together someday at reunions—one that you started!
