Time capsules

I have for some time being contemplating writing a leaflet on "time
Capsules, the do's and dont's" and would appreciate info from one and
all. Back in 1986 I wrote two similar leaflets in part I confess to save
my writing hand which was answering some 20 letters a week on the most
menial of things.

The first leaflet covered Historical memorabilia and was called the
"Collector's Checklist." The second was aimed directly at the custodian,
collector of Photographic material and titled the "Photographer's
Checklist." Both leaflets were designed to be read with ease, to be as
simple as possible. An example from the Collector's leaflet: "Dont
over-handle material. Do wherever possible pick up items from the edges,
using suitably fitting soft researcher gloves to prevent both physical
abrasion and dirt penetration (oil from fingers can migrate during
handling)."

The freeby leaflets have generated much interest over the years.
Non-commercial we have supplied them to Museums, Local Study Libraries,
Archives worldwide, over 100,000 in fact and approved translations in
French, Spanish, German, Japanese and Portugese.

For some time I have looked on at the Time Capsule syndrome. Here
schools, girl guides, cubs, scout troops, companies, just about any
group of people, seem to use them and there is very little if anything
available to them by way of guidelines. People need to know what type of
containers they should use, the format capsules should ideally take, the
composition of materials that will last longer, how capsules should be
put in the ground, etc. It has surprised me that with the increase of
time capsules institutions themselves do not seem to see the importance
of such data.

I would appreciate any information for my writings. The leaflet will be
free.

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 8:62
                 Distributed: Tuesday, February 7, 1995
                        Message Id: cdl-8-62-014
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