Capsule Will Offer Glimpses of Navy Flight Centennial

What would you want people 100 years from now to know about Coronado's celebration of ?

The  began preparing last fall to create a time capsule and put the call out for items related to the year-long celebration of the 2011 anniversary of flight.

The association will put some of at a ceremony where the donors will have a chance to officially present their gifts for inclusion in the capsule.

Donors include the Navy, Naval Base Coronado, the 100th Anniversary of Naval Aviation Foundation, the Naval Helicopter Historical Society, Coronado Public Library, Coronado MainStreet, the USS Midway Museum, and the San Diego Air and Space Museum.

There are more than 100 items – from banners and brochures to caps and decals – and hundreds of photos printed on special archival paper (actual photographs would degrade).

Thumb drives will be added with digital copies of the materials, said archivist Rachel Lieu, because experts believe they are the most likely current media to be useful in the future. DVDs don't cut it.

The capsule, however, will not be buried Friday. It needs to be packed carefully to ensure protection of the artifacts inside. When it is buried, it will be placed at the apex of the historical association building where Orange Avenue meets Park Place.

Interested in time capsules? Here's some fast facts:

• There are time capsule experts. The International Time Capsule Society at Oglethorpe University in Atlanta maintains a registry for storing the mementos.
• Listverse has compiled a list of the 10 noteworthy time capsules, and a San Diego company with Navy ties made the cut.
• Is there always pomp and circumstance around opening a capsule? Nope – sometimes they just get discovered. Contractors in Chicago found one from the 1920s this month.