Future History: History Museum

[Amerigo Vespucci]

The year is 2098. You're a curator at the new Global History Museum in Lutzern, Switzerland. You've been given a time machine with which you will go back in time and collect artifacts. You must not let your presence be known, and cannot remove artifacts before their supposed destruction date. The government has placed limits on your machine that prohibit you traveling back in time earlier than 70 years, so any trips to the past must be taken beyond March 6, 2028. Which five artifacts would you choose, and why? (Explain their historical significance.)

[Grey Wolf]

This reminds me of the Dr Who story 'The Space Museum' starring William Hartnell

Do I get it right that we can only take artifacts at the moment of their destruction so that nobody will miss them ? I'm not sure why you have a 2028 date as that gives us 24 years where we could invent something then have it destroyed then choose that as an artefact...

What is destruction ? For example if I want a Mayan book that was burnt by a crazy Catholic does this count as destroyed, or would the ash need to be disposed of before it was destroyed...in which case I can only bring the ASH to the museum or people would notice !

Or a ship which was sunk - one supposes the wrecks are on the seabed...so we can't have Titanic or Bismarck as those wrecks have been found

Grey Wolf

[Amerigo Vespucci]

That would be correct. You'll need to find things that were either lost or presumed destroyed to avoid making your presence known. The year of 2028 is given as this is not the Global Museum of Science and Technology, and would not have any business messing about with more recent artifacts. Preferrably artifacts dating before the millenial celebrations, but I have selected the Mars Polar Lander as one of my artifacts, and I would not dissuade you from choosing anything from the early years of the new century as well. As for remnants of artifacts as you mentioned, you may choose to bring those back, but I, for one, wouldn't find it as compelling as the exhibit featuring the United States ore carrier Cyclops, lost in 1918.

[NHBL]

I'd certainly collect an old dreadnought battleship--Sao Paulo and Oklahoma both sank under tow, and have not been found, so these are possibilities. Sao Paulo would be in better condition...
Some books from the Great Library, taken just before one of the fires. That would be a priceless record of the times.
A random Greek trireme that went down in a storm--the design of them is a mystery to this date.
Sputnik 1-the first man made object in space--what could be more compelling?
The Venera 1 spacecraft--the first ship to land on Venus. (The Mars ships might be found by that time, Venera would be completely destroyed, so no problem there)

[Chris Oakley]

I'd include the film of General von Witzleben's execution after the July Plot of 1944.It vanished right after the execution took place.(I'd also include some barf bags.)

[Max Sinister]

I'd try to recover some lost movies, f.e. the lost parts of German movie Metropolis. Hm, now since I'm talking about tapes... I wonder whether I could find the missing few minutes from the Watergate tapes somewhere...

[Romulus Augustulus]

That would be correct. You'll need to find things that were either lost or presumed destroyed to avoid making your presence known. The year of 2028 is given as this is not the Global Museum of Science and Technology, and would not have any business messing about with more recent artifacts. Preferrably artifacts dating before the millenial celebrations, but I have selected the Mars Polar Lander as one of my artifacts, and I would not dissuade you from choosing anything from the early years of the new century as well. As for remnants of artifacts as you mentioned, you may choose to bring those back, but I, for one, wouldn't find it as compelling as the exhibit featuring the United States ore carrier Cyclops, lost in 1918.

The Cyclops was a collier.

[luakel]

I'd go back to the Library of Alexandria right before it's burning (or even during, if that won't work), and grab 5 books, maybe at random.

[Nekromans]

Hitler's moustache - that goes without saying.

The Holy Grail, or whatever the hell it actually is.

A Panzer tank.

The first Bible to be printed.

John Lennon's glasses.

[Aracnid]

The Gutenberg Bible (the first book to be printed) has quite a few surviving examples to this day. Eton has one of the first run of 20, they don't know which number it is.

[Nekromans]

Okay, I just nick the first one, straight from the printer. I then go a little further back in time, and arrange for a group of bandits to raid his workshop. He thinks it's been nicked by the thieves, the thieves think they're hard and I think, "Goodie! Pay rise!"

[Max Sinister]

If you want to rob some books... the Shakespeare Folio is said to be comparably expensive.

[Fabilius]

Even though I can´t take the mayan books the spaniards burned, I can sneak in during the night and photograph.

Heck, maybe I could take with me a mobile photocopy machine. They might have those in the future.:D

[Agentdark]

I would find a way to get the head of that big Statue of Saddam they pulled down.

[Leej]

I'd try to recover some lost movies, f.e. the lost parts of German movie Metropolis. Hm, now since I'm talking about tapes... I wonder whether I could find the missing few minutes from the Watergate tapes somewhere...
Missing parts of many other films from the time too....
That really old cool one with airships I can't remember the name of.

[DAv]

I'd bring the Duke of Wellington's Wellington boots.

[Kabraloth]

I'd try to recover some lost movies, f.e. the lost parts of German movie Metropolis. Hm, now since I'm talking about tapes... I wonder whether I could find the missing few minutes from the Watergate tapes somewhere...
I'd settle for the original version of Nosferatu, before it was destroyed (I curse thee, widow of Stoker!).

[Nekromans]

Er... I'd visit Nostradamus in his sleep, pretend to be a demon, and have him explain what exactly that stuff meant. Then I'd have him write it down, and hey! A new artifact!

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Holy hell... I forgot about this.

[Tom Veil]

I'd go back to the Library of Alexandria right before it's burning (or even during, if that won't work), and grab 5 books, maybe at random.
Agreed, but I'll be more brazen. With modern flame-retardant equipment, oxygen masks, pyrotechnic equipment, etc., you should be able to keep the outside of the Library burning for a long time while you calmly dump all the contents on the safely extinguished inside into your Time Machine parked right inside the library.

[Tom Veil]

I would also give some of my curators plenty of inoculations (to keep them from killing the natives) and then systematically gather tons and tons of material from every civilization in North and South America. I'd have the curators make lots of films -- what a valuable resource, to know how the 500 Nations lived before the plagues hit them! If the time machine is big enough, I'd especially like to steal the Great Mound of Cahokia and the Temple of the Moon. :p

[Amerigo Vespucci]

I'd also suggest the lost Doctor Who episodes.

[Mojo]

1.Da Vinchi's Notebook while he's on his death bed.
2.The first fire used by cavemen say dress as one and grab a stick
3. Stalin after he dies and has been examined replance the body.
4. The Architects's plans of St. Basil's chuch in Moscow
5. The first pope hat:p