-[HarroldÑ All I can tell you is kind of, an eerie feeling, (gentle music) being under five feet of dirt, surrounded by a lot of concrete.

(gentle music) First of all, this capsule is, 20 foot by 10 foot by 6 foot.

(gentle music) And it's built out of one foot concrete walls.

And, I'm surrounded by four cement walls and a cement lid, plus a multitude of memorabilia the year 1975.

Why did I build it?

I started out with the idea of a two foot time capsule, two foot square, and it kind of grew on me and I thought, well, why not go for the world's largest.

And in the Guinness Book of Records, Come September this one will be listed as the world's largest.

(gentle music) -[Trish] My God, he's nuts.

I don't want any part of this.

I don't know where he came up with this idea and why isn't somebody shutting him down?

That was my first memory.

(gentle music) Being entrusted with this time capsule is a super, super heavy responsibility.

(gentle music) Through the years, when I saw people stop at the capsule, I'd go out and give them a bit of the history of it.

So I felt obligated to share that story as much as I could with anybody who took the interest to come.

(gentle music) And it was it was tough.

It was it was a huge responsibility.

But at the same time, I did enjoy it.

I enjoy it more now than I did then.

-[Narrator] Trish Davisson Johnson has followed in her father's footsteps in Seward, Nebraska, first in taking the reins of a business, then as caretaker of the world's largest time capsule.

(shuffling sounds) -[Trish] As my father aged, he became concerned that his grandchildren would not remember him.

He loved Seward.

He loved Seward in 1975.

He wanted a way to preserve Seward in 1975 for his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren, to remember what it was like.

The community was really excited.

They weren't really sure what this would mean.

He didn't have any concept of this being the biggest in the world.

He just wanted it to be big enough that it wouldn't get lost.

He spent most of his time just calling people, trying to find an expert in how to do this, and what it would take to make a concrete bunker strong enough to last.

(whimsical music) And all of the experts said if he had eight inches of concrete for the walls, that would be plenty.

So of course they made him 12in.

They talked about how much rebar was needed and Dad doubled that also.

The bunker is ten feet deep, 12ft deep, something like that.

And the lid of the bunker is actually below ground level.

Everything was done truly, truly, almost subterranean.

(whimsical music) -[Narrator] The capsule included clothing, pop, letters from the community, a motorcycle and one yellow Chevy Vega.

(whimsical music) -[Trish] A lot of the people thought, here goes Davisson again.

In terms of building a time capsule in 1953.

He had taken the Seward High School basketball team by bus to Seward, Alaska, to play basketball.

So he had done a lot of unusual things in his life.

And this was just going to be added to the list.

(whimsical music) My dad started out in this (whimsical music) era of poverty.

He was born in 1907, in Seward.

When my dad was a child and he knew that there wasn't enough money for food, he would scrounge alleys for things he could sell.

He was always looking not for the money.

Wasn't the money.

It was what the money could do (whimsical music) that made the difference for him.

Because he was.

He was always investing in the next big idea, whether it was building the bowling alley, whether it was building the apartment building.

He had a Harrold Davisson farm supply, which became House of Davisson.

(whimsical music) -[Amy] The House of Davisson was an institution in Seward.

When I graduated from high school in 1972, when my parents went up to the house of Davisson to buy me a lane Cedar hope chest.

That I still have, actually.

So House of Davisson, absolutely an institution.

Part of everyone's life.

(whimsical music) -[Trish] My dad loved being born in a small town.

My dad loved being born specifically, in Seward.

He wanted to do what he could to further the town.

And he always said, in 50 years, people are not going to remember Budd Davisson.

They're going to remember Seward as the home of the world's largest time capsule.

(whimsical music) -[Narrator] As the nation geared up to celebrate the bicentennial signing of the Declaration of Independence.

The underground tomb was sealed on July 4th, 1975.

Davisson's grand vision was cemented in history.

(whimsical music) Before long, the tomb would be added on to in a race for the world's largest.

(whimsical music) -[Trish] After two years in the Guinness Book of Records, Oglethorpe University stepped up and said, we have a crypt of Civilization as a time capsule and it is bigger than that.

And I know that was in his head when he added the pyramid, that it again made bigger without a question.

(whimsical music) I think that dad wanted the largest time capsule in the world, because it would become a part of Seward's legacy.

Seward's lore.

And I think 50 years sounded so improbable that it would be there forever.

(whimsical music) It's a full time job that I really didn't mind until about two years ago, when I started thinking about how to open this and what it would involve.

I feel the weight of the world.

(gentle music) -[man] That's nice.

- You see my hands shaking?

(gentle music) I can feel 50 years of planning to go up in a minute, or it'd be a huge success.

And I consider this to be a huge success.

This is the culmination of his dream.

I'm hopeful those letters will be what people expected and give them the joy that they wanted.

And I am so excited to celebrate a Chevy Vega, and I never thought I'd say that in my life.

(gentle music) -[NarratorÑ Just like 50 years before, the time capsule now opened, was heralded by a grand ceremony featuring hundreds that waited to view the site and the contents sealed underground for half a century.

(gentle music) -[Jon] I think it's just an amazing testament to the builders and to Harrold Davisson on how well everything was preserved and how well it was built.

I believe it's kind of been a connection with the past for everybody.

For me, it's kind of been I knew my parents put a letter in there to us kids.

So it was, you know, at the time thinking, golly, I have to wait so long to see what it was.

But it got here before.

You know, it.

-[Amy] I guess our parents put their heads together and, decided they needed to put a packet in the time capsule.

Only my sister Anne remember that they talked about doing that.

And, she was convinced that there was something waiting for us when the time capsule was opened.

And so I went to speak with one of the women who was helping Trish sort through things.

I told her our name, and she typed on her computer and said, no, there's nothing here for you.

(gentle music) I still feel like it was a voice speaking to me.

(gentle music) That said, ask about Jones National Bank and there was.

And, I felt very much like it was (gentle music) some kind of a voice on the wind.

It was in bad shape.

But there was a crack.

In the envelope.

And the one line I could see said, oh, how we wish we could be there.

When you read this.

And again, it felt very much like (gentle music) they were speaking to us.

(gentle music) -[Anne] Paper is one of the scariest things you can work with because it is so fragile, but yet contained so many important moments in the history of human beings, as well as the history of your family.

-[Narrator] The task of repairing the letter fell to Amy's sister Anne an expert in art history and preservation.

Anne's work is methodical in restoring these treasures.

(gentle music) -[Anne] Going back and actually starting, having the opportunity to and starting to restore things that were actually created by my parents own hands, so to speak.

(gentle music) It meant a lot to be able to do that.

(gentle music) You know, our parents were spending their time putting together this envelope of material, knowing that as soon as it went into the time capsule, (gentle music) by the time we saw it, they were going to be here.

(gentle music) And that's pretty moving.

-[Amy] I can't read it without being moved to tears.

"How we wish you could be with you as you read this, years hence.

But the good Lord has decreed we must go when he calls.

(sniffling) We've worked hard.

But has been.

But it has been a good life with loved ones."

(gentle music) -[Trish] You've got to write those memories down, because they won't know what you were thinking when you saw them.

They won't know what you thought when they started kindergarten, or what you thought when they came out looking terrified and you thought, yeah, I didn't prepare you for this did I You need those memories down so that they can, at some point relate to what your life was like in, let's say, 2025, (gentle music) because it's pretty great.

And we want them to know that.

(gentle music) -[Anne] The impact of the time capsule in Seward.

(gentle music) Just this (gentle music) bit of material takes me back.

Decade after decade after decade after decade, and being able to piece together.

(gentle music) Our lives currently and how all of those experiences shaped who we are and what we're doing today.

I think that, everyone should be aware of how important time is.

All of this.

Is a very important way to reconnect with other people, other places, other times, and to think.

About where we all fall into this (gentle music) timeline.

-[Amy] When I think about Harrold Davisson coming up with this idea, I mean.

He didn't know anything about building a time capsule.

But you had this kind of crazy idea.

And, now I think how cool it was that?

In kind of a kind of a, you know, a crazy little visionary.

Preserving all these bits and pieces of Seward.

(gentle music) -[Trish] This is my father's legacy.

He left me something that is tangible that I can see.

I can touch.

I can imagine his emotions.

And you can't tell the story of the capsule without talking about Budd Davisson.

His story will be out there.

And this is his story.

And I am excited to share it with the world.