In 1939, as the New York World’s Fair promised a dazzling “World of Tomorrow,” Americans buried a time capsule intended to remain sealed for 5,000 years.
At nearly the same moment, Columbia Workshop asked an even stranger question: What would happen if we could look 5,000 years into humanity’s past—and 5,000 years into its future?
In this Chesterton Radio Deep Dive, we rediscover William N. Robson’s remarkable 1939 radio drama Do Not Open for 5,000 Years and explore the real Westinghouse Time Capsule that helped inspire an era fascinated by the distant future.
This Deep Dive includes Spoilers. We invite you to listen to the original program below then return for our in depth discussion.
It is a journey through experimental radio, science fiction, the 1939 World’s Fair, and one enormous question:
What will the people of the year 6939 think of us?
