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Re: archives mystery needed



I can highly recommend Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon; it's an excellent
though long (900+ pp.) book in which the Enigma machines and Bletchley Park
play major roles.  It's an historic fiction/mystery/political
thriller/adventure novel wrapped into one work, with some gonzo humor
distributed liberally throughout.  No archivists appear in major roles, but
Turing, Waterhouse, and other early digital computing geeks do. Great
read--have fun!

Sally Childs-Helton, Ph.D.
Special Collections/Rare Books Librarian
Butler University Libraries
4600 Sunset Avenue
Indianapolis, IN 46208
317-940-9265/Fax 371-940-8039
schildsh@butler.edu


-----Original Message-----
From: Jones, Virginia [mailto:VJones@CI.NEWPORT-NEWS.VA.US]
Sent: Tuesday, September 12, 2000 3:17 PM
To: ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU
Subject: Re: archives mystery needed


This suggestion may be off the wall, but having just read about the stolen
"Enigma" machine being held for ransom
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_921000/921604.stm), I thought of
a plot something like:
An archivist is asked to aid in deciphering some "enigma" messages that are
in orignal sent form with no transciption attached.  Based on the provenance
of the material in which the messages are found, it is believed that the
information they contain can aid in bringing a Nazi war criminal to justice.
The archivist gets permission to use the "Enigma" machine at Bletchley Park
Museum to decipher the material, but before he can get there, the machine is
stolen, presumably by the Nazi war criminal or his supporters.  Where the
story goes from there is up to you!

Ginny Jones
(Virginia A. Jones, CRM, MIT/LIT)
Newport News Waterworks
Newport News, VA
vjones@ci.newport-news.va.us

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