Tom Medema has a cool job.
In late 2025, he retired from the National Park Service (also a cool job), took a month off, and was brought on as a special advisor to America 250, the commission celebrating the nation's semiquincentennial — or 250th birthday.
Medema's new job? Manage the creation of a national time capsule to be buried in Philadelphia on July 4 of this year, and unearthed at the 500th birthday of the United States, in 2276.
What does it feel like to be working on something that will be seen by people as far away from us as we are from George Washington and John Adams and Benjamin Franklin?
“I get goosebumps, literally gooseflesh, when I think about the reverse of it," Medema said. "If I were popping the lid on something from that time period — to go through that would be so exciting to see what they thought about back then.”
The 50 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. territories will each get a small box — 5 by 6 by 2 inches — to put objects in.
The list of each contribution is secret still, to be unveiled in mid-June. But Medema was allowed to tell about Michigan's contributions. The state will include:
- An uncirculated 2025 Michigan state dollar coin that has an assembly line depicted on it as a nod to the automotive history of the state
- A piece of copper from the Keweenaw Peninsula
- A Petoskey stone
- A piece of cholastrolite, also known as Isle Royale Greenstone
- Commemorative quarters
A letter from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and a proclamation from the state will also be added, but in a separate part of the capsule specially designed to protect paper.
The time capsule is made of a stainless steel cylinder that will be sealed and then placed under an enormous bell jar to keep out moisture — a significant concern in the wet soil of the eastern United States.
Medema said they have confidence in the design, and have learned from the past, including a 200-year-old time capsule found at West Point, home to the United States Military Academy.
“It was a metal box and it basically, when they opened it, was full of silt,” he said. Aside from a few coins, its contents — “probably some paper documents, maybe a flag" — are lost forever.
"We don’t know (what was in it),” he said. "We’ll never know.”
Telling the story
There are lots of battles right now about how the story of the United States should be told — including efforts by the White House to have signs removed from National Parks and Smithsonian Institution museums.
The time capsule is trying to stay out of that fray by letting the states and territories tell their own stories. There are also efforts to collect poetry, stories and artwork from people willing to share.
“California will tell a different story than Texes or Alabama or Maine or Michigan. Each one of them have their own piece of the narrative,” Medema said. “We’re seeing a broad spectrum of that from people who are embracing celebratory elements and others who are saying, ‘You know what? We’re striving to be more perfect.’ Which means we’re still imperfect. And we can learn from those imperfections and continue that evolution.”
For Medema, the time capsule is one more opportunity for self reflection — a chance to think about the country's history, its future and his role in each.
Medema spent a lot of years as a storyteller with the National Park Service, thinking about a lot of moments in American history, including the difficult ones.
"So when I see a moment in time in an exhibit, or in something that somebody's submitting for a time capsule, who would I have been at that moment in time?" he said.
He mentions sit-ins at segregated lunch counters during the Civil Rights era, where Black and white students sat together and suffered the taunts and assaults of angry crowds.
“Who would I have been? Would I have been brave enough to sit at that table? Would I have been cruel enough to pour food on their heads? Or more likely, would I have been an uncomfortable onlooker?”
Time capsules are one of many opportunities we have to think about our role in the world around us.
“I find a lot of really interesting self-reflection. And then who am I today? When I see injustice today, when I see challenges today, who am I?”
Producer: Austin Rowlader
Editing: Steve Junker
Music: Blue Dot Sessions
