21 January
After 11 months of effort, a team of technicians from the Victorian Mechanical Museum deciphers the locking mechanism on the iron strongbox and it is finally opened. The contents are revealed to be manuscripts, letters, photographs and other assorted ephemera largely associated with 19th century scientist, inventor and adventurer Geoffrey Hawkins.
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The Hawkins Strongbox Chronology
Updated and Appended as Items are Added to the Collection
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Jeffrey Pepper
Curator and Administrator
Copyright of material presented here is granted in proxy to the administrator of this site with all significant rights thereto.
Curator and Administrator
Copyright of material presented here is granted in proxy to the administrator of this site with all significant rights thereto.
Curator's Note
As with many historical investigations, the Hawkins Strongbox has on occasion been beset with controversy. There are a scattered few academics that insist that the person of Geoffrey
Hawkins and the history associated thereto is wholly and totally fabricated. Some have even suggested that the contents thus far presented to the public are in fact clever computer-generated designs that have no basis in historical truth.
All of the individuals associated with the Hawkins Strongbox project unequivocally stand behind the integrity of the material presented as part of this online exhibition. We will therefore refrain from engaging in any debate that raises the aforesaid issues of fabrication and falsehoods. We also reserve the right to deny commentary to those who would attempt to level such accusations in this venue.
Hawkins and the history associated thereto is wholly and totally fabricated. Some have even suggested that the contents thus far presented to the public are in fact clever computer-generated designs that have no basis in historical truth.
All of the individuals associated with the Hawkins Strongbox project unequivocally stand behind the integrity of the material presented as part of this online exhibition. We will therefore refrain from engaging in any debate that raises the aforesaid issues of fabrication and falsehoods. We also reserve the right to deny commentary to those who would attempt to level such accusations in this venue.
"My colleagues and I travel into the 20th century every day. It is a happy and wondrous place."
-Geoffrey Hawkins
October 1, 1882
The Collection
- Item 1: The Geoffrey Hawkins Mechanical Sun Timepiece
- Item 2: The Æther-Modified Flintlock
- Item 5: The Clock-Head Skull
- Item 20: The Æther Collectors: Matthew and James Hardy
- Item 25: Henry Mayhew Letter with Enclosure
- Item 31: Deakin Bro's Trade Card with Missive
- Item 46: Geoffrey Hawkins Cabinet Card 1882
- Item 47: Timothy Deakin Cabinet Card
- Item 48: Berkley Vanderzee Cabinet Card
- Item 49: Falynne Hyperion Cabinet Card
- Item 78: Steam Coach Patent Diagram
- Item 107: The 1939 World's Fair Postcard
- Item 111: The Adler Fanshaw Envelope
- Item 254: Cabinet Card of Geoffrey Hawkins
"It looms on the horizon, this great mechanical sun we call the future."
-Timothy Deakin
24 December, 1881
"We only wish to look over the shoulder of M. Verne and chance a glimpse of the marvelous future he always seems to see outside his window."
-Berkley Vanderzee
March 18, 1883
Musical Accompaniments
"Do not suffer fools who claim wonder at the divine and mysterious. Magic is nothing but science, cleverly disguised."
-Falynne Hyperion
29 September, 1882
"Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe."
-H. G. Wells
"Another age must be the judge."
-Charles Babbage
"Reality provides us with facts so romantic that imagination itself could add nothing to them."
-Jules Verne
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Hawkins Strongbox and All Original Content
Copyright © 2010-2018 By Jeffrey Pepper
Copyright © 2010-2018 By Jeffrey Pepper