Crypt of Civilization
Posted on: February 18, 2006
In the basement of Phoebe Hearst Hall at Oglethorpe University in Georgia, there is a stainless steel vault door which was welded shut over sixty five years ago. Behind this door lies a 20′ x 10′ waterproofed room containing a menagerie of once-modern artifacts and microfilm records, placed there by men and women in the years between 1937 and 1940
- The contents of this vault will remain unseen and undisturbed for the next 6,107 years. This ambitious project, which began in the dawn of the Second World War, is known as the Crypt of Civilization; it represents the first concerted effort to collect and preserve a snapshot of human civilization and technology. Though the term had not yet been coined at its inception, it was the first modern time capsule.
- By 1940, the crypt was complete, and filled with stacks of sealed containers and objects representative of the time. On May 25 of that year, the crypt door was ceremoniously sealed in the presence of the city Mayor, the state Governor, and the U.S. Postmaster General among many others.
Further reading : http://www.oglethorpe.edu/about_us/crypt_of_civilization/inventory.asp
