The capsule would consist of two-part time capsule – one would be a public part which will contain the history of the Earth; the other would be a private part that would be full of "digital memory boxes" created by individuals.
These memory boxes could contain digital files—records of family trees, videos, and selfies even—or actual DNA in the form of human hair. There is a catch - only those who fund the program would be able to avail of this this option of a digital memory box.
However, the concept of Time Capsule is a very old one and dates back to 1795 - crews have removed one such capsule from the granite cornerstone of the Massachusetts Statehouse. In the opinion of historians, it was originally placed by Revolutionary War luminaries Samuel Adams and Paul Revere among others.
The time capsule is believed to contain items like old coins and newspapers, but the condition of the contents is not known and Secretary of State William Galvin speculated that there are possibilities that some of these could have deteriorated over a period of time.
The capsule will be opened only after it is X-rayed at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts to determine its contents. The capsule was originally made of cowhide and embedded in the cornerstone when construction on the state Capitol began in 1795. Adams was governor of Massachusetts at the time. However, subsequently, in the mid-19th century, it was taken out and its contents transferred to a copper box.
The capsule has now been removed because of an ongoing water filtration project at the building.
Incidentally, another time capsule had been was uncovered from the Old State House, which served as the state's first seat of government. That was dating back to 1901 and was inside a lion statue atop the building – it contain well-preserved items including newspaper clippings, a book on foreign policy and a letter from journalists of the period.
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