In 1901, the citizens of Colorado Springs in the USA decided to collect everyday items and to seal (封住）them in a special box. The box was marked “To be opened after midnight, December 31st, AD 2000”，and was kept in the Colorado College Library.
One hundred years later, on the appointed (约定）day, 300 people gathered to watch the opening of the box. Many in the crowd were the descendants (后代）of people who had placed things inside the box.
When the box was opened after midnight, the things inside the box were in very good condition. There were newspapers, photos, diaries, name cards, family trees, books and lots of letters, including one written by Theodore Roosevelt, who became the President of the USA later that year. One of Roosevelt’s friends lived in Colorado Springs at that time.
Many of the letters were written to their descendants. They describe the hopes that the people of 1901 had for the people of the next century. At that time, Colorado Springs had just a few thousand people. Now nearly half a million people live there.
Colorado College Library has scanned the materials and put them on a website. Cecil Muller, whose grandfather had placed a collection of postcards in the box, said that the time capsule was a great treasure. “This is a wonderful educational resource(资源）. We can learn so much about our history,”he said. “I never knew my grandfather, but now I feel very close to him. ”
