Randy Seaver is calling all Genea-Musings Fans to participate in this week’s challenge for Saturday Night Genealogy Fun:
1) What would you put into your own “Family History Time Capsule” for your descendants to open in the future? What would you use for the capsule? Where would you keep it? Who should open it?
This week’s challenge took some thinking. It’s easiest to work from the last question backwards, I think. First, since I don’t see any grandbabies in the future, I think one of my cousins’ great grandchildren should be the one to open the capsule on his/her 18th birthday. If we do have any grandchildren, then one of my own should open it. Second, I’d keep a small metal trunk with a lock on it here at home until we are so elderly that it is time to ship it to the next generation.
The tough question is: what would I put into my own “Family History Time Capsule?
- My archivally preserved family history albums with photos and original documents
- My grandmother’s watch, which she loved, and which might be an obsolete object by that future date since most young people use their phones to tell time
- Like Randy, my husband would save his slide rule, which he proudly keeps on a bookcase shelf in his office
- My DAR pins – only about 6, but which represent my contributions in terms of volunteer projects
- My husband’s and sons SAR certificates
- The family baptismal gown
- Also like Randy, my downloaded DNA results and a GEDCOM saved in the most current format available before I’m gone (Yes, I’d open the time capsule to update these items!)
- An assortment of vintage Christmas decorations that have been owned by two or three generations of family
- Nana’s prayer cards, some of which are already more than 100 years old
- My aluminum angel food baking pan, which belonged to my mother. I still use it several times a year!
Thanks, Randy, for an interesting topic this week!
I was thinking I should put in our rotary telephone, though descendants will know what they looked like from tv and movies. I like your list, nice items that would fit in your metal box.