Time capsule letter: questions to answer before you seal it
Write the date in full, say who you are and who should open it, describe an ordinary day and what things cost, and ask the reader questions. Print or write on acid-free paper, unstapled.
The reader of a time capsule letter knows the ending and not the start. What feels too obvious to write now, such as your street, your phone or your weekly shop, is what they will lack.
Decide the opening date before you write. A letter to open in five years can mention plans; one for twenty-five years needs more about how life worked.
Put these words on a page
Add your photos and write beside them in a digital scrapbook.
Questions to answer in your letter
- Where are you sitting as you write this, and what can you see?
- What does an ordinary weekday look like for you?
- Who do you see most weeks, and where?
- What did bread, a bus fare and a month's rent cost?
- What do you use your phone for most?
- What are you worried about that you expect to have sorted by then?
- What are you proud of this year that few people noticed?
- Which song, show or game are you into right now?
- What decision are you in the middle of making?
- What do you think will have changed by the time this is read?
- What do you want to ask the person reading this?
| Record | On the letter | Outside the capsule |
|---|---|---|
| Identity | Name and chosen reader | Who is responsible for the capsule |
| Time | Writing date and intended opening date | A reminder or catalogue entry |
| Context | Ordinary activities and chosen dated prices | Source notes for anything copied |
| Access | Where attachments are listed | A retrieval note, without passwords |
Decide who opens it and when
A letter to your future self, to a child at eighteen and to a stranger at a school all read differently. Name the reader at the top so whoever finds it knows if it is theirs.
Write the opening date on the outside, with the month as a word. Dates written only in figures read differently in the UK and the US.
Write what will need explaining
Use full names and say how each person is related to you. A first name on its own means little after a decade.
Explain the things you assume. Say what your phone does all day, how you get to work or school, and what a few everyday things cost.
- A description of where you live, with only the location detail you want the reader to see
- A weekday from waking to sleeping
- A few dated prices you are comfortable recording, such as bread or a bus fare
- The news story everyone around you is discussing
- What you are in the middle of deciding
Ask the reader questions
Questions make the letter a two-way thing. The reader can answer them in their head, or in writing kept beside your letter.
Ask about something you can check: whether a plan happened, whether a street still looks the same, whether a habit lasted.
Paper, folding and sealing
The Library of Congress recommends printing time capsule documents on permanent, or archival, acid-free paper, and names the ISO 9706 standard for it.
It warns against staples and against sealing paper together with plastic, since unstable materials can harm everything else in the capsule. Fold the pages loosely instead.
Scan or photograph the letter before sealing it and keep the copy somewhere separate. Tell one other person where the capsule is and when it opens.
Keep a separate retrieval note with the letter's location, opening date and the person responsible for it. Avoid passwords, access codes or anyone else's private details in the letter.
Steps
Head the letter
Your full name, the place and the date written with the month as a word, then the name of the reader and the earliest date it should be opened.
Describe now
An ordinary day, the people around you, what things cost and what you use every day, written as if to someone who has never seen it.
Ask your questions
Three to six questions the reader can answer, mixing practical ones they can check with personal ones only they can answer.
Copy and seal
Sign it, scan it, fold it loosely into an acid-free envelope with no staples or clips, and write the opening date on the outside.
Questions
What do you write in a time capsule letter?
Who you are, who it is for, an ordinary day in your life, what things cost, what you are planning or worried about, and questions for the reader.
How do I write a letter to my future self?
Write as if to someone who has forgotten the details. Describe your days and the decisions in front of you, then ask questions you will be able to answer later.
What should you not put in a time capsule with a letter?
The cited Library of Congress advice concerns a sealed, long-term capsule. It favours permanent paper and warns about mixed materials, plastics, plant material and reactive metals such as staples.