History Main / FieldTripToThePast

** ''[[Film/BillAndTed Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure]]'': as Abe Lincoln mentions in the page quote, the duo harvest various historical figures with their time machine and bring them in for their history report.

-->-- '''Abraham Lincoln''', ''[[Film/BillAndTed Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure]]''

* The Literature/TimeScout series: In order to psych Margo up and get her interested in her difficult historical research, she's given a few tours downtime. First to Victorian England, then to Ancient Rome. She makes some serious mistakes each time, but also experiences some of the joys of learning.

* ''Series/BoyMeetsWorld'' did it twice.
* The ''Series/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch'' spinoff novel ''Salem's Tales'', did it.
* ''Series/FamilyTies'' did it in an episode where Alex P. Keaton falls asleep -- and he witnesses the Declaration of Independence. As this episode occurred around the time that Michael J. Fox (Alex's actor) was also playing Marty [=McFly=] on ''Film/BackToTheFuture1'', this episode was possibly a nod to the then upcoming film. In the film, [[TheProfessor Doc Brown]] types in the date of the Declaration of Independence -- when demonstrating to Marty how his time machine works.
* Also inverted in ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'' episode "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS4E120TheBard The Bard]]" featuring a struggling TV writer named Julius Moomer who dabbles in black magic to summon Creator/WilliamShakespeare back from the dead to help him write his new show. After Shakespeare leaves in disgust after the TV execs butcher the script he wrote, the writer has another idea: a historical documentary, featuring the people who actually ''lived'' it.
* Oddly used in ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' in the PoorlyDisguisedPilot episode "Assignment: Earth". The ''Enterprise'' is apparently sent back ''on purpose'' to 1968 to do research. This despite the many, many other TimeTravel stories in ''Franchise/StarTrek'' featuring the dangers of interfering with the timeline.

* In Jodi Taylor's Literature/TheChroniclesOfSaintMarys series, planning and performing trips to the past (and documenting them for the record) is St. Mary's primary function.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E6TheWomanWhoLived "The Woman Who Lived"]], Clara is annoyed the Doctor helped one of her students complete a history assignment by arranging for her to meet Winston Churchill.

* ''Tales From the SMP'', a spin-off series of the ''LetsPlay/DreamSMP'', revolves around Karl Jacobs using his time-travelling powers to journey to the past and future of the SMP, and it is heavily implied that he uses these powers to stop the events of the SMP from getting worse, [[spoiler:but [[BlessedWithSuck at the cost of]] his own [[LossOfIdentity sense of identity]] and memories]].

* ''[[VideoGame/DotsHome Dot's Home]]'': Dot returns to her grandmother's house in Detroit, MI to find that her Grandma Mavis is considering selling it to Murphy's Keys-for-Cash promotion in order to pay the bills. Dot gets distraught by Mavis' decision because her family struggled to maintain the house for future generations, so she goes upstairs to her bed to sleep off her headache. Upon waking up, Dot discovers that she's mysteriously locked her room, and she finds a magic key that beckons her to use it. She unlocks the door and enters a magic hallway, taking her back to key moments of her family's past. Throughout the game, she learns about the historical housing discrimination against Black people firsthand and how her family survived it in order to provide her the home she's living in.

* ''[[VideoGame/DotsHome Dot's Home]]'': Dot returns to her grandmother's house in Detroit, MI to find that her Grandma Mavis is considering selling it to Murphy's Keys-for-Cash promotion in order to pay the bills. Dot gets distraught by Mavis' decision because her Black family isn't paid well and is being exploited by a greedy White man, so she goes upstairs to her bed to sleep off her headache. Upon waking up, Dot discovers that she's mysteriously locked her room, and she finds a magic key that beckons her to use it. She unlocks the door and enters a magic hallway, taking her back to key moments in her family's past. Throughout the game, she learns about the historical discrimination against Black people firsthand and how her family survived it in order to provide her the home she's living in.

* ''Series/FamilyTies'' did it in an episode where Alex P. Keaton falls asleep -- and he witnesses the Declaration of Independence. As this episode occurred around the time that Michael J. Fox (Alex's actor) was also playing Marty [=McFly=] on ''Film/BackToTheFuture'', this episode was possibly a nod to the then upcoming film. In the film, [[TheProfessor Doc Brown]] types in the date of the Declaration of Independence -- when demonstrating to Marty how his time machine works.

[[AC:{{Film}}]]

* ''[[Film/BillAndTed Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure]]'': as Abe Lincoln mentions in the page quote, the duo harvest various historical figures with their time machine and bring them in for their history report.

* In the ''Film/StarTrek2009'' fanfic ''Fanfic/WrittenInTheStars'', Fem!Kirk of the Alt Reality keeps getting shown memories of her counterpart's past, to her annoyance. When her counterpart is about to show her another one:

* Creator/IsaacASimov's "Literature/TheMessage": The protagonist is from the thirtieth century, collecting original research for an academic paper on infantrymen in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.

If the character is not researching history it can be used to deliver AnAesop.

Compare to WaybackTrip, where the history seems to be a little… ''off'', and the characters have to fix it. (Though there's naturally a continuum from this trope to that one; the main difference is whether or not the characters need to fix anything.) Compare also to AdventuresInTheBible where the history the characters enter is as told by the scriptures of a religion or by a work of ancient literature.

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]
* ''Series/WhereInTimeIsCarmenSandiego''
** Later, there was one called ''VideoGame/WhereInAmericasPastIsCarmenSandiego'', which focuses on a specific part of history.

** Later, there was one called "Where in America's Past is Carmen Sandiego", which focuses on a specific part of history.

* In ''Literature/ThiefOfTime'' Susan Sto Helit (granddaughter of [[AC:[[TheGrimReaper Death]]]]) has taken the job of a teacher. Though it is never actually shown, it becomes fairly clear that part of her history lesson involves actually visiting the event.
** Not ''literal'' homework, but in ''Guards! Guards!'' the Librarian needs to know what a certain book says. Unfortunately, the reason he needs to know is that the book has been stolen. So he walks back in time (which apparently all libraries can allow), and reads it before it is stolen.

* ''Tales From the SMP'', a spin-off series of the ''LetsPlay/DreamSMP'', revolves around Karl Jacobs' using his time-travelling powers to journey to the past and future of the SMP, and it is heavily implied that he uses these powers to stop the events of the SMP from getting worse, but [[BlessedWithSuck at the cost of]] his own [[LossOfIdentity sense of identity]] and memories.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E6TheWomanWhoLived "The Woman Who Lived"]], it's implied the Doctor helped one of Clara's students with a history assignment this way.

** An episode of ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' features Stewie and Brian using Stewie's time machine to take Chris to various points in history to help him pass an exam. They get away with it by telling Chris he's dreaming, but with consequences. Most of the episode takes place when Chris boards the Titanic.

* ''WesternAnimation/TimeWarpTrio'' (Zero Context)