By Tom Weber, KWMU
St. Louis, MO – This year marks 200 years since Lewis and Clark explored the new western United State.
But some people are already getting ready for the 250th anniversary.
Harry Windland, with the Illinois Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Committee, is gathering items for a time capsule.
Many time capsules entomb a social snapshot, like what shoes or music or movies were popular at a certain time. But this capsule will specifically document how people in 2004 are celebrating the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial.
"We think 50 years from now people will be interested in what was done during the Bicentennial," Windland said Wednesday. "There will be some things in this capsule, I'm certain, which are not being archived anywhere else."
Windland is accepting items at the new Lewis and Clark Center in Hartford, Ill. until March 25.
"As I've been planning for our own Bicentennial activities, I thought how nice it would be if I had something from 50 or 100 years ago regarding how things were celebrated then. And for the most part, those items do not exist."
The capsule will be sealed near the center's entrance in May.