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`Thoughts For The People' Buried Until 2097

B Y D OROTHY E VANS

On the day before opening their 22nd Annual Book Sale to raise funds for this

year and next, the Friends of the Booth Library were definitely looking ahead.

Not just to the five-day sale that would bring in funds to help the library

through the next year. And not even to the long-awaited but imminent

completion date of the new library addition project to be followed by moving

in and a grand opening.

Actually, they were looking ahead to another time entirely - a time 100 years

in the future, to be exact.

So that is why at 4 pm, August 27, 1997, the Friends buried a time capsule

with the year 2097 in mind. They did it for library patrons not yet born who

might someday want to know what life was like in this town at the end of the

20th century.

The cooler-shaped, hermetically sealed box wasn't actually "set to go off"

bomblike in 100 years with a clock installed and the seconds ticking away. As

far as anyone present for the ceremony could tell, there weren't any beepers

and bells.

But they were confident that the future capsule-opening date wouldn't be

missed. They said they are counting on the continuing record-keeping vigilance

of a long line of future library administrators who are destined to follow in

the footsteps of current Library Director Janet Woycik.

Those administrators will, hopefully, be familiar with all the "old" library

files and will be aware of the existence of the time capsule because of a

certain letter Mrs Woycik said she has placed in an appropriate place.

"I'll be putting the instructions about the time capsule's location and date

of opening in the vault in the basement of the old library," Mrs Woycik said.

Capturing Today

For Tomorrow

Mrs Woycik, Friends president Gordon Williams and Friends vice-president Kathy

Geckle stood by and watched while Newtown High School senior Reid Warner

leaned into his shovel, showing the place where the hole would be dug.

"They'll find plenty of interesting information from Newtown residents of

1997," Mrs Woycik said.

The box's contents include a series of retrospectives titled, "Thoughts For

The People," that were written by members of the Legislative Council, by

Library Board members and by Newtown Schools Superintendent John Reed.

There are also a Book Sale program, a CD-ROM disk featuring, among other

things, a library home page, and a videotape showing Newtown residents arguing

for funds to support the building of the library addition.

The capsule will rest underground for 100 years, buried beneath a bench

outside in the children's garden. Located behind the new addition, the garden

has been planned and planted with perennials by Reid Warner for his Eagle

Scout project.

Although several generations of Newtown children will undoubtedly sit directly

over the buried time capsule, they probably won't be aware of its existence.

But after 100 years, who knows?

Someone is bound to be interested. Another library addition might be needed by

then with construction happening again on that very spot, though it is

probably safe to say that nobody now wants to even think about that.