# Buying/Building A Time Capsule

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-building-a-time-capsule/130712>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 3, 2002, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-building-a-time-capsule/130712 "2002-10-03T17:37:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![flertbert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e5b9ba/32.png) [@flertbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flertbert)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2002, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-building-a-time-capsule/130712/1 "2002-10-03T17:37:20Z")

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I’m going through a house cleaning phase and I stumbled across some love letters from an ex-girlfriend. I don’t like the thought of just tossing them out or burning them, but I don’t really see the point in keeping them around the house, either. So, I thought that I’d bury them in a time capsule as there’s a slim chance someone in the far future might find them interesting.

So should I buy one, build one (and if so what to make it out of) and how should I best preserve the contents?

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**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2002, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-building-a-time-capsule/130712/2 "2002-10-03T17:57:31Z")

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Anything you could vacuum pack.

Sunlight, air and water are your biggest culprits in destroying your stuff. Most plastics and glass will be the most resiliant substances to the elements. Maybe a canning jar or something. Over time though the rubber seal will decay. Just how long do you want your time capsule to last? You might try wrapping your canning jar in several layers of cling wrap as well. The more things you put between your letters and the elements the longer they are likely to last.

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**Author:** ![Swede\_Hollow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3bc359/32.png) [@Swede\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swede_Hollow)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2002, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-building-a-time-capsule/130712/3 "2002-10-03T18:02:22Z")

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Handle everything as little as possible. The oils on your skin will cause paper to deteriorate over time. Regular paper tends to disintigrate over time due to its chemical makeup. As **Whack-a-Mole** said, vacuum pack.

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**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2002, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-building-a-time-capsule/130712/4 "2002-10-03T18:51:00Z")

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[**Here’s**](http://tcapsules.com/index.phtml) what you need…

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**Author:** ![flertbert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e5b9ba/32.png) [@flertbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flertbert)\
**Post date:** [October 4, 2002, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-building-a-time-capsule/130712/5 "2002-10-04T08:18:54Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by postcards \*  
> \*\*[**Here’s**](http://tcapsules.com/index.phtml) what you need… \*\*

Hmmm. Looks pricey, plus they’re only guaranteed for 500 years. Stop and think about that for a moment. If it conks out in 499 years how do I collect?