STORY:
Letters for the Next Century

You can write a letter to send to someone 100 years from now

Imagine being able to write a letter to someone who isn’t even born yet and letting them open it 100 years from now. A Southwest Germany city is offering such a service right now as part of a millennium celebration.

The City of Rottweil has built a giant postbox and is looking for letters, which won’t be opened or delivered for 100 years. That’s right, the letters will stay sealed until the year 2099. Talk about slow mail delivery!

Since your letter will take a hundred years to arrive you will have to address the letter to someone in the future. You can write to future descendants like great-grandchildren or future world leaders. You can use your imagination and write a letter to someone you will never meet. All of the letters will be sealed in the time capsule.

So what would you want to write about? That is completely up to you. You can write about life as it is today and it will serve as a lesson in history to the person receiving the letter. Just think about it, what if you could open a letter today from your great-great grandmother who lived back in 1899. Imagine what kind of life she led, wouldn’t it be great to hear her stories.

It’s hard to think about now, but in 100 years from now we will be the past-century and the world will have changed dramatically, in ways we can’t even imagine right now.

The city of Rottweil is going to take all the letters it receives and put them in preservation, not to be opened or delivered until New Year’s Eve 2099. The letters are going into a giant stainless steel container; it will be welded together and buried in the heart of Rottweil’s historic town center. A commemorative slab will be placed on the spot and then left there for 100 years. Included in the container of letters will be information about the project and its background.

So if you are interested here’s the way to get started writing for the future. You can either e-mail your letter or hand write your letter. You have to get your letter to Rottweil by New Year’s Eve that’s the deadline.

A few tips on letter writing. Put the letter in an envelope, write the address and sender on it. Mail to: Postbox Rottweil

Postdate 2100

78618 Rottweil, Germany

You can send photos, but negatives are preferred. Use acid free paper if possible. Do not send metal objects, electronic data carriers or anything that is not made of paper.

Ok, the obvious question, if you don’t know exactly who will be opening this letter, since they aren’t born yet. Good question. You should write your birthplace and date of birth on the envelope. Include the names of your children, grandchildren and their respective husbands and wives. Include whatever information you think will be helpful in tracking down your future relative.

If you would like to use e-mail for your letter. Log on to www.millennium-postbox.de

DATE: 11/5/99

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