Noch ein Museum der sehr fernen Zukunft

 

The Crypt of Civilization is an impenetrable airtight chamber, built between 1937 and 1940, at the Oglethorpe University in Brookhaven, Georgia. The 2,000-cubic-foot (57 m3) repository is meant not to be opened before 8113 CE and contains numerous artifacts and sound recordings that illustrate civilization and human development to the 20th century. Classic literature and religious texts were also deposited, as well as items showing the extent of scientific progress to 1939.

Thornwell Jacobs, the initiator of the project, was inspired by the opening of Egyptian pyramids and wanted to create a repository of everyday 1930s objects and a record of human knowledge over the preceding 6000 years. The Guinness Book of Records declared the Crypt to be the first genuine attempt to permanently preserve a record of 20th century culture for people of thousands of years into the future.

Ein Museum der sehr fernen Zukunft

 

Preparing to cosign the Time Capsule to its 5,000 year resting place are A.W. Robertson, Westinghouse Electric Company’s chairman of the board (left) and Grover A. Whalen, president of the New York World’s Fair.

One of the first exhibits to receive attention at the New York World Fair 1939/40 was the Westinghouse Time Capsule, which was not to be opened for 5 millennia (the year 6939). The time capsule was a tube containing writings by Albert Einstein and Thomas Mann, copies of Life Magazine, a Mickey Mouse watch, a Gillette safety razor, a kewpie doll, a dollar in change, a pack of Camel cigarettes, millions of pages of text on microfilm, and much more. The capsule also contained seeds of foods in common use at the time: (alfalfa, barley, carrots, corn, cotton, flax, oats, rice, soy beans, sugar beets, tobacco, and wheat, all sealed in glass tubes). The time capsule is located at 40°44′34.089″N 73°50′43.842″W, at a depth of 50 feet (15 m). A small stone plaque marks the position.