Message for the future | La Tribune

Prime Minister Philip Davis works alongside a student to properly archive the time capsule items on July 1, 2024. Photo by: Chappell Whyms Jr.

By KEILE CAMPBELL

Journalist at the Tribune

[email protected]

MORE than 50 objects –– including photographs commemorating historical events, bank notes and coins, Androsia fabric, cow bells, cell phones and a copy of the Bahamian constitution –– will be wrapped in conservation material, stored in a capsule and buried until 2049, when they will be unsealed during the celebration of the Diamond Jubilee of Independence.

As the country prepares to celebrate the 51st anniversary of independence next week, the National Independence Secretariat has designated today as “National Time Capsule Packing Day,” according to the secretariat’s chairperson, Leslia Miller-Brice.

She said Family Island trustees and New Providence residents have formed time capsule committees to collect items of historical value that show who Bahamians were before and during the past 50 years.

She said the time capsule initiative is one of the secretariat’s flagship events.

The Smithsonian Institute, the world’s largest museum, education and research complex, and experts from that country’s Department of Archives and Antiquities, Monuments & Museum Corporation (AMMC) suggested a variety of items for the capsule, including geographic and demographic information about The Bahamas; funeral programs and other special events; stamps, maps and photographs; copies of letters, awards or certificates; lyrics to popular songs; and memorabilia from the 50th anniversary of independence celebrations.

AMMC Director Dr. Christopher Curry spoke of the importance of the items expected to be contained in the capsule, including an interview with Matilda “Millie” Rolle-Robinson of Yellow Elder, the oldest known Bahamian at 109. He said the interview was important “if you want to grasp what life was like at that time in our country.”

Prime Minister Philip Davis and some schoolchildren wrapped up items at the Prime Minister’s Office yesterday. Mr Davis suggested that if he had taken part in the initiative as a child, he would have included marbles or a spinning top.

“We have lost all of that. We have lost a lot of those things, as history will tell us. There are a lot of things from the ancient African civilization from which the civilization came that we have lost today because there is no mechanism to continue to connect the past to the future,” he said.

“If that happened, we would know how to build a pyramid. We would have the plans and the models to build a pyramid. That’s why I think this effort is very important.”

The Tribune understands that a time capsule will be buried in each district of the Bahamas.