A letter to posterity written more than 100 years ago and found in a time capsule hidden inside the Old State House golden lion statue made a few accurate predictions — and some very wrong ones.
An archivist for the Bostonian Society, Elizabeth Roscio, opened one of the letters on Tuesday that was found in the 113-year-old time capsule, from George A. Litchfield, the business manager of the Boston Traveler. Litchfield’s 1901 letter describes an era of what he considered advanced technology, and some visions of the future that included adventures in flight, exploration, and communication.
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Litchfield’s writing foresaw that people would be able to fly with leisure and without cumbersome machinery. On the other hand, he expected communication with “distant worlds” would be achieved by the middle of the 20th century.
“Before the midway of the century shall have been reached distant worlds will be communicating with us, and we shall know the mysteries of the spheres,” Litchfield wrote.
Earlier in the letter, he envisioned “We shall fly; not merely navigate the air with cumbersome machinery sustained by bags of gas, but we shall step from our houses, and at our convenience or pleasure” fly.
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Among the more accurate of Litchfield’s predictions was chatting by video and the demise of steam power.
“Long before it completes its cycle, steam will have given place to other motive power not yet discovered,” Litchfield wrote, which is true — steam power has become all but obsolete, and nuclear power plants have cropped up in different corners of the world.
In addition, he wrote that, “We shall speak around the world. We shall see the face of him with whom we talk.” Skype and Apple’s FaceTime are now used for both business and leisure.
Litchfield also anticipated the major role of electricity, writing it “will have revealed new worlds of scientific wonder.”
Other auguries from Litchfield have not been realized but are perhaps not far away — sustainable energy through air or wind power, and the cheaper, easier navigation of the ocean floor, the extreme depths of which have not yet been reached.
And, like many men after him, Litchfield hoped that the future would see a more peaceful world.
Discovered at about the same time on Tuesday, the Bostonian Society learned that journalists of 1901 had a sense of humor. Another envelope in the time capsule labeled as a letter to posterity turned out to be empty.
“We think they did it as a joke,” said Bostonian Society spokeswoman Heather Leet. “We think we should put one in [the next capsule] that says ‘treasure map’ and then have it be empty.”
Roscio, the archivist, opened the envelope with extra care Tuesday, using a steam technique to avoid damaging the envelope, Leet said. When she found it was empty, Roscio turned the envelope upside down and shook it, which “is not what an archivist would do,” Leet laughed.
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Kiera Blessing can be reached at kiera.blessing@globe.com.