For more than a decade, teams with the Library of Congress and the National Institute of Standards and Technology have been planning and preparing to bury a time capsule outside Independence Hall in Philadelphia as part of the nation's 250th birthday celebration.
The America 250 time capsule is a cocoon housing pieces of American culture from 2026, including an iPhone, a Coke bottle, and a crystal from the Times Square New Year's Eve ball. Wrapped in a protective bell jar on top of a granite platform, the capsule weighs one ton.
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Every U.S. state and territory has contributed something to the capsule.
"It could be something as simple as a letter from the governor, or it could be a coin," Rosie Rios, chair of America 250, said. "It could be in some cases actually really amazing — like Maine has a whale bone. Or Montana, it has this indigenous beaded item, which is so beautiful."
The capsule will be dug into the ground outside Independence Hall, where it will remain for 250 years.
"It is exciting to think about what our country might be thinking about this time period 250 years from now," Rios said.
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Nobody living today will be around to see it opened, but the public is getting a chance to see some of the items donated for the capsule — something Rios revealed publicly for the first time to Scripps News.
"There were many things that were provided that couldn't go into the capsule," Rios said. "So for example, we have one of the footballs from the NFL for the playoffs leading up to the Super Bowl. But leather doesn't preserve well. So we have a bunch of really amazing, amazing items that I think we're gonna do something really special with before the year is out."
