Actor Jason Bateman’s family time capsule discovered in Millcreek

SALT LAKE CITY — When Jacob Branan moved into his home near 3300 South and 900 East in Millcreek, he made a surprising discovery.

“We were just taking a walk outside, looking around the house. It was just in an old bag leaned up against our wall,” Branan said.

Inside the bag, he found old photos, news articles and even locks of hair. 

Linking it back to Jason Bateman

Branan started researching the names and realized this was actor Jason Bateman’s family.

“Everything lines up. There’s evidence that they lived here during that time. There are photos of his dad when he was a kid, when he was in Boy Scouts. A couple of pictures of young Jason,” Branan said.

One of the first indicators was an included article about Bateman acting in “Little House on the Prairie.”

A simple Google search resulted in finding out that Bateman lived in the area for a few years in his childhood. 

But the bulk of the material was about Bateman’s grandmother and father, Kent.

There were articles highlighting Kent’s directorial projects on a college campus in Utah, as well as an article about him winning a local baby contest because of his cute, curly hair. Locks of Kent’s hair were also included in the time capsule.

Almost century-old photos were also included in the contents, including one dated 1926.

‘I just want to make sure it gets to the right people’

Branan reached out to Jason Bateman’s agent to try to get hold of him, but hasn’t heard anything back. He hopes to find someone in the family to return the items to.

“If somebody called you up and said they found your grandparents’ logs from the 20s, 30s —all throughout the 70s and 80s— just an entire thing of family photos, wouldn’t you want that back?”

Branan also took to Reddit and has gotten a few responses with potential leads, but he wants to proceed with caution.

“What’s important for me is that it’s given to someone that’s verifiably within that family, who at least has some sort of connection to, ideally, the grandparents. I just don’t want to give it to somebody who claims to be and then all of a sudden, they’re trying to sell it. I’m not trying to get money out of it; I just want to make sure it gets to the right people,” Branan said.

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