Time capsules

Victoria Juhlin <victoria.juhlin<-at->ub<.>ntnu<.>no> writes

>I am researching short- and long-term time capsules for my MA
>thesis.  Has anyone reading the list had experience with time
>capsule projects for archival materials and/or constructed a capsule
>for such artefacts?  ...

A few years ago I did up a time capsule for the municipality I was
working for.  A variety of materials were included as each municipal
department contributed something they felt represented them.  I
can't remember the specifics off the top of my head, but likely
included images, paper based documents and some municipal souvenirs.
I ended up rejecting a couple items as departments had included
things like optical discs or items that were too big.

Prior to my arrival an aluminum or stainless steel capsule, can't
remember which, was selected and purchased from Carr McLean.  The
capsule was going to be stored at the Museum in a climate
controlled-ish area so that made a bit of a difference capsule wise
in the selection and reduced the work I had to do after sealing.

I housed everything with good quality archival materials, reprinted
a few items on 'permanent' paper, made black and white copies or
paper based items and generally went a step or two further than
normal as this was a 100 year capsule.  I inserted a container of
silica beads, a satchel of activated charcoal, and a few packages of
oxygen scavengers.

For silica beads there's a formula based on cubic centimetres and
material type, for the activated charcoal I sewed a satchel that was
probably a bit larger than needed but wanted to err on the side of
caution, and the oxygen scavengers also had a formula based on cubic
centimetres.

There was some differing opinions on the use of oxygen scavengers
from different sources but I ended up opting to use them based on
the overall contents of the capsule.  The oxygen scavengers were
available in a variety of packet sizes so I just ordered a bunch and
sealed the extra packages really well in hopes that I could use them
later for something.

I did some research into how to seal the capsule and came up with a
really good sealant that was recommended for archival use in time
capsules; however, off the top of my head I can't just remember what
it was but it may have been recommended by the Canadian Conservation
Institute.  I opted for the sealant over other ways of sealing the
container based on available material, equipment, and the fact the
capsule had a screw on lid.  There are a variety of ways to do just
about everything I did and depending on the capsule itself, how it
will be stored and your circumstances, something else might work
better.

Just before sealing bit I inserted a permanent paper page as the
first thing that would be seen when opened.  This listed the
contents, any concerns I had, recommendations for opening, what I
had used for materials and some other general information.  The
outside of the container was also well labelled as there will likely
be several staff turnovers before it is opened.

I'm sorry if that's a bit vague as the details are a bit fuzzy.  If
you have any specific questions about what I did I'm more than
willing to try to answer.

My one main recommendation for people would be to purchase the time
capsule after the contents have been collected.  With the capsule I
was working with not everything could fit in and some items were
simply too big to fit the opening of the capsule.

There are some great resources and people out there with a lot of
information on time capsules, good luck.

William Shepherd
Collections Officer
Swift Current Museum
44 Robert Street
West Swift Current
Saskatchewan S9H 4M9
306-778-4815
Fax: 306-778-4818


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 29:33
                 Distributed: Sunday, January 17, 2016
                       Message Id: cdl-29-33-001
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