The New Volunteerism Project

The Archival Collection of
Ivan Henry Scheier

Section XXI

The Above-Ground Packet
of the
Voluntas Time Capsule on Volunteerism

July 2000 notes by Ivan Scheier

Click here to download the brochure for the 2050 Time Capsule Opening

In celebration of International Year of the Volunteers, 2001
the Time Capsule will be rededicated on Sept 20, 2001 at Regis University in Denver, Colorado

Introductory Notes:

A separate entry described the purpose of the above-ground packet of the Time Capsule. This packet is NOT the Time Capsule itself; only a small sample and description of its background and contents.

The main purpose of the complete Time Capsule itself was to provide primary resource material for historians in the year 2050, when the Capsule is due to be opened. The material is primary because it is what the actors themselves say rather than what others say about them and about volunteerism. We also hope that the Capsule opening ceremony on Thanksgiving Day, 2050, can serve as a rededication to volunteerism in that future time. Finally, we hoped the process of preparing the Capsule, involving hundreds of people, would further dramatize volunteerism in our present time, and perhaps also lead to productive reflection and insights.

The 60-year period, 1990 – 2050 was chosen for several reasons. Given the speed with which changes occur in the world of 1990, we felt that 60 years was long enough for significant further changes to occur. Yet this timespan is short enough to reduce the feared possibility that the Capsule would be entirely forgotten. Also, a number of the younger people represented in the contents of the Capsule might still be alive in 2050, with the potential to enrich greatly, the discussion we hope that capsule opening will lead to. Finally, mid-century could well be a time when people are naturally inclined to pay more attention to the future and the past, as represented in the Time Capsule.

Historians, please note. I was Director for VOLUNTAS, the Capsule-sponsoring organization, and as an individual was the principal organizer of the Time Capsule Project. Therefore, thought I tried to guard against it, I’m afraid my work and thoughts, and importance in 20^th century volunteerism might have been over-represented. My own work is more completely represented by archives currently in the library of Regis University in Denver, CO, U.S.A.

Ivan Scheier
Stillpoint
July 2000