Encapsulating Time for the Ages

Rick Lemmo is betting that a century from now, his descendants will want to see his family photographs, genealogy, letters, baby teeth and other personal memorabilia.

Teacher Joni Simon thinks the children and grandchildren of her fourth-graders will enjoy perusing writing assignments, predictions and mementos.

And Brian Hutchens will send notes to his descendants about his family so those yet to come will know about him, his wife, JulieAnne, and sons Pierce, 9, and 4-month-old Hunter.

The trio will store their keepsakes in three of the 10,000 time capsules that will sit alongside 50 million government records and more than 100,000 artifacts at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum. The capsules are scheduled to be opened Jan. 1, 2100.

“I like the ingenuity and creativity that has gone into these time capsules,” said Hutchens, a 38-year-old La Canada resident. “All my family has to do is fill in the blanks.”

Alongside a note that begins, “Dear loved family members, This is a present to you . . . ,” Hutchens will include genealogy that goes back 200 years and photographs of his family and their ancestors.

“It’s better than leaving it all in a safety deposit box at a bank with all the mergers going on,” said Hutchens, who learned of the offer through Reagan Foundation mailings. The foundation is also marketing the capsules through the catalogs it sends to library supporters and through radio tie-ins.

Kirby Hanson, director of business development at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, was happy to point out another advantage to putting family information and treasures in a time capsule at a presidential library.

“Here the stuff is safe,” Hanson said. “It won’t be stored in an attic where someone from a future generation might find it and say, ‘What the heck is this?’ and then throw it out.”

The archives will be kept in vaults at the library at a constant 70 degrees with 50% humidity. Records of those who have information locked in a time capsule will be posted on the foundation’s Web site and updated on whatever Web sites evolve into in the next 100 years. Each student and every family participating will be given a certificate with an invitation to the Jan. 1, 2100, party at the library, when the capsules will be opened.

Putting information on computer disks is discouraged, because there is no way to know if anyone will be able to access the technology.

“Pen and paper is the best way to go,” Hanson advised.

That’s just what Simon’s 32 Westlake Hills Elementary School students used to write their predictions for the future, which will be included in their class’ time capsule along with various other writing assignments and their family trees.

“I think schools will look like stadiums and the playground will look like a big water park,” wrote Marcelle Khalil, 9.

Warnings about population increases and global warming prompted her to write that, Marcelle said.

Some kids predicted bad weather ahead, with everyone forced to live underground. Others were more optimistic and thought people would not only still live on the Earth’s surface but use flying cars.

“I think every 12-year-old will have a driver’s license so the parents won’t have to be so busy,” said 9-year-old Vicky Lou.

No more shots, cures for disease and more tropical islands were included in other predictions, along with some ideas about inventions that would make life easier.

“I think we’ll be able to push a button and our clothes will appear on us,” said Kevin Sloan, 9.

“We won’t have to read books anymore,” said 9-year-old Anthony Haghighi. “The books will read themselves to us.”

All their predictions will be included inside a time capsule that features a 12 1/4- by 10 1/4- by 5-inch box, which will hold genealogy forms, three archival-quality file folders and other keepsakes. The boxes hold about 800 pages and cost $250 each. Schools get a 50% discount. More information is available at https://www.reaganfoundation.org.

Ninety of the boxes have been sold so far, 40 to developer Rick Caruso, who donated them to Conejo Valley schools.

Hanson also encourages those filling time capsules to include a lock of hair as a DNA sample for future generations.

“Who knows what they’ll be able to find out about us with a lock of hair?” she said.

Don’t tell the Lemmo kids, but the teeth their parents have gotten back from the tooth fairy will be among the treasures included in their box.

“The time capsule is a tremendous idea,” said Lemmo, a Newbury Park resident. “I know what I put in there is going to be safe.”

He is optimistic but not so certain about who is going to be around for the Millennium Time Capsule opening party a century away.

“I am reasonably sure I’m not going to be around,” Lemmo said. “But, with technology bringing so many surprises, I might be.”

Parents responding to a request from Simon for a volunteer to pick up the class time capsule when it is opened brought a variety of responses, including one mother who wrote, “I plan to wear my best wings and halo to the event.”