Question

In act one of the play, the Stage Manager describes the time capsule that the townspeople plan to put in the bank cornerstone saying:
We’re putting in a Bible…and the Constitution of the United States—and a copy of William Shakespeare’s play. What do you say, folks? What do you think?

Y’know—Babylon once had two million people in it, and all we know about ‘em is the names of the kings and some copies of wheat contracts…and contracts for the sale of slaves. Yet every night all those families sat down to supper, and the father came home from his work, and the smoke went up the chimney,--same as here. And even in Greece and Rome, all we know about the real life of the people is what we can piece together out of the joking poems and the comedies they wrote for the theatre back then.

So I’m going to have a copy of this play put in the cornerstone and the people a thousand years from now’ll know a few simple facts about us—more than the Treaty of Versailles and the Lindbergh flight.

See what I mean?

So—people a thousand years from now—this is the way we were in the provinces north of New York at the beginning of the twentieth century.—This is the way we were: in our growing up and in our marrying and in our living and in our dying. (Wilder 33)

The Stage Manager wants to leave a record of everyday life for future generations to find so that people who find the time capsule will know what life was like beyond just the historical facts and major events.

So Besides the items that are listed above, what else would you have included in the time capsule that would accurately portray daily life in Grover’s Corners? Think of at LEAST 2 items (or more, if you want) and why?

REMEMBER: The Stage Manager is concerned about including items that portray daily life. Take time to consider the less obvious choices or items that were special because they had significance behind them

Answer 1

If it is a small town, I would include a copy of the weekly  paper.

I would include marriage vows of people who wrote their vows themselves. If they later got a divorce, I would want to have the reason recorded as well.