International Time Capsule Society
The ITCS (International Time Capsule Society) is an organization founded in the USA in 1990 with the aim of documenting time capsules in order to keep them from being forgotten. The organization is based at Oglethorpe University in Atlanta , Georgia, USA. Its founders are the writer Knute "Skip" Berger, the anthropologist Brian Durrans from the British Museum, and Paul Hudson and William Jarvis.
ITCS projects
The organization has built a database of time capsule projects around the world. Around 1400 capsules are currently registered with the ITCS. ITCS estimates that approximately another 5,000 time capsules have been built in the past few years.
Overall, the ITCS estimates that there are between 10,000 and 15,000 worldwide, most of which are lost or forgotten. Paul Hudson, one of the ITCS founders, assumes that more than 80 percent of the time capsules have been lost and are never opened at their scheduled time. He thinks that only about one capsule in a thousand is ever opened.
Goals of the ITCS
ITCS believes there will be an ever-increasing interest in time capsules in the new millennium. Therefore the ITCS sees it as its task:
- to document all known time capsules
- create a place where this documentation is accessible
- To support and promote research on the history, motivation and variety of time capsules
- Communicate the value of time capsule projects to the public