Time Capsule Overview

The Time Capsule will be placed at the Clock Tower. 

Have you ever wondered what it was like to live in Neenah long ago? What did the citizens of Neenah think about, care about or hope for? Questions like this are being pondered by a group of citizens who have come together for the purpose of creating a community time capsule for placement in a yet to be disclosed location within the City of Neenah. 

The vision for the project is to create a broad and inclusive snapshot of our community in 2012 so that future generations will, at least in some ways, know what life in our community was like for us. Jane Lang, a Neenah native and the new Executive Director of the Neenah Historical Society, and Eileen McCoy, Director of the Parks and Recreation Department, have assembled a group of volunteers with the desire to reach out to the citizens of Neenah to gather their thoughts.

A key component of the project, which has been named “Bridging Generations,” is to collect input in the form of essays and/or projects from Neenah school children. A cooperative effort with the Neenah Joint School District, as well as connections with private and parochial schools and homeschoolers, has been undertaken. The organizational committee for the project hopes to collect students’ views on the community and has offered guidelines for input to the capsule as well as a promotional video for the schools to use. Not only does the project seek to gain input for the community time capsule, it also hopes that the project will provide opportunities for classroom discussion on our community - what it means to students, what they hope it will become, and how it has had an impact on them.

Citizens, local businesses and organizations are also being solicited for their input to this project with the hopes of generating a very comprehensive picture of Neenah in 2012. Similar projects have been undertaken in other communities (Madison’s Sesquicentennial time capsule for example) with excellent results. A time capsule with the scope and inclusive nature of “Bridging Generations” is, however, a new undertaking within the City of Neenah. The opportunity for reflection this project promotes is one reason it seems to be met with enthusiasm.  When was the last time you as an organization or as an individual took a moment to consider the community in which we live? This is a chance for the citizens of Neenah to think about our memories, experiences and hopes for our community and together make a statement that will last. Another unique feature of the capsule will be its intentional re-usable design which will allow for it to be recycled and re-filled by future generations of Neenah’s citizens.

One of the key ingredients that often seems to be missing from historical records and collections are the personal comments, the recollections, the values, the hopes and the motivations of our predecessors. This is what “Bridging Generations” hopes to collect and preserve for the future citizens of Neenah. The capsule is set to be opened in 30 years, or a generation from 2012.  The project not only builds bridges today as we learn from each other in the process of creating the time capsule, but it also builds a bridge to the future citizens of Neenah who open the capsule in 2042 and reflect on and learn from its contents. 

Look for submissions to this community-wide project to begin appearing on display in the City Hall and Neenah Library as well as within Neenah’s schools. “Bridging Generations” also hopes to have a significant presence at Communityfest this summer and will be featuring school children’s essays/projects as well as business, organizational, and citizen input at that time. The dedication ceremony for the time capsule is slated for September 8, 2012, and is also anticipated to be an engaging and community-connecting event for Neenah.