Time Capsule: The Book of Record

At noon on September 23, 1938, a streamlined time capsule constructed of a copper/chromium/silver alloy, and containing an airtight glass chamber filled with assorted items representative of our civilization, was buried deep in the ground under New York City's Flushing Meadows. The exterior of the capsule was engraved with instructions for it not to be opened until 5000 years later in the year 6939 AD.

The world's fair buildings that surrounded it at the time are now long gone leaving only a small stone marker to indicate the capsule's presence. In an attempt to ensure that knowledge of the Time Capsule is not lost completely over the course of the next 50 centuries, a 'Book of Record' was created and stored in several thousand museums, libraries and monasteries around the world.

Attempting to communicate directly with a civilization that may yet come to exist exist on the far side of an intervening dark age, the book documents the capsule's location and provides instruction on how to locate and recover it through descriptions of such things as how to determine longitude and latitude, how to use electromagnetic fields to locate buried metallic objects, how to decode the English language, and how to create/use the technology required to decode the capsule's content.

The Book of Record of the Time Capsule also contains messages to the future from Robert Millikan, Thomas Mann, and Albert Einstein.

In keeping with the request made in the book's introduction that it be cherished, translated, and handed down through the ages, we are making available an electronic version for use on your iPod, iPad and iPhone.

It is both a striking historical artifact and a fascinating read. We sincerely hope that you enjoy it as much as we do!

All Eyes to the Future!