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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Women's Health Time Capsule Initiative

The Office on Women's Health (OWH) in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is the lead office for the Women's Health Time Capsule initiative. Its purpose is to capture and highlight, for future generations, the most significant contributions/advances related to improvements in women's health during the past century. A Planning Committee met monthly to develop and implement this initiative. The Committee was composed of representatives from other HHS agencies such as the National Institutes of Health Office of Research on Women's Health, the Health Resources and Services Administration Office of Women's Health, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and the Food and Drug Administration.

A number of items that have had a tremendous impact on women's health in the past century were identified and placed into the time capsule. These items fall under the following categories: body image and health, diagnoses and treatment, legislation and policy, health education/communications, preventive health, quality of life, and social and cultural factors.

Dedication Ceremony -- December 3, 2001

• Dedication Ceremony Program

• Dedication Ceremony Photos

• Webcast of the Women's Health Time Capsule/OWH Tenth Anniversary Celebration (2 hours, 26 min)

Time Capsule Placement Ceremony -- May 14, 2002

• Placement Ceremony Program

• Women's Health Time Capsule Buried on Campus
  (NIH Record - June 11, 2002: Vol. LIV, No. 12)

• Photos of the May 2002 Time Capsule Placement Ceremony

Other information about the Women's Health Time Capsule

• Press Release

• Photographs of Time capsule items

• A Century of Women's Health

• Time Capsule Technical Specifications (including GPS coordinates)

• Traveling Exhibit and Sites to be visited