History Main / ItBelongsInAMuseum

* Towards the end of the ''WesternAnimation/ThomasTheTankEngine'' special, "[[TreasureHuntEpisode Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure]]", [[spoiler:Marion digs up the lost pirate treasure that Sailor John has been looking for. Upon hearing about this from Thomas, Sailor John reveals that he wanted to keep the treasure for himself, and lied to his railboat, Skiff, about donating it to a museum. Thomas tells him that the treasure has been stolen by pirates many years ago, and doesn't belong to them or him. He also tells him that, to ensure it doesn't get stolen again, it's going to the museum Sir Topham Hatt is planning to put it in. Sailor John does steal the treasure the following night, leading Thomas to chase him down to get it back.]]

->--''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade''

* In the ''VideoGame/WarCraft'' universe, there is a character named Harrison Jones, a clear ShoutOut to IndianaJones. Naturally, he references IndianaJones frequently, but his character card in ''VideoGame/HearthstoneHeroesOfWarcraft'' has him destroy the opponents weapon, draw cards from it, while he says "That belongs in a museum!"

* ''TheYoungIndianaJonesChronicles'', episode "British East Africa, September 1909"

* On ''ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'' Mac and Charlie find a Nazi uniform with medals that belonged to Dennis & Dee's grandfather. They decide they have to get rid of it, but figure a museum will pay good money for it, so yay! The guy running the museum is less than enthusiastic.

* On an Episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Worf, Dax and Dax's old Klingon buddy Kor find the fabled Sword of Kahless, believing it can unite the empire. After turning on one another how it should treated and nearly killing one another at one point they ultimately decide it would tear the empire apart rather than unite it and so the beam it into space in the middle of nowhere.
** Warehouse 13:**
* This is the entire reason why the Warehouse even exists. The artifacts stored in there are too dangerous to leave in the outside world, add many are capstone of gruesomely killing anything that comes in contact.

* [[LeagueOfLegends Ezreal]] uses the phrase as a taunt. You belong in a museum!

* In ''[[TheMaskOfZorro The Legend of Zorro]]'' movie, two Pinkerton agents capture Zorro and claim that the days of vigilantes are over.

* ItBelongsInAMuseum: Inverted, kindof. Ted has strong views about cultural appropriation, and believes that native artifacts should be returned on request. That said, he also thinks that research are both good reasons for a museum IF you have permission.

* Played with in a sketch from TheWhitestKidsUKnow, with Peter Frampton's guitar at an auction (after his apparent death). Indiana Jones is there and says his line, but is just told to sit down. He meekly does.

* [[PercyJackson Piper MacLean]] has a moment like this when she is told the dagger she is holding belonged to Helen of Troy. Annabeth explains that Half-Bloods live surrounded by ancient stuff and it's meant for them to use.

* In ThomasTheTankEngine The Fat Controller's engines are often told this by characters due to their age.
** In "Edward's Exploit" Gordon says that Edward should retire and "be preserved."
** In "Horrid Lorry" one of the titular lorries tells Toby he belongs in a museum instead of working at a quarry.

* In a season 2 episode of ''{{NCIS}}'', Tony and Kate shows up at [=McGee's=] apartment early in the morning. When he asks what they are doing there, Kate's says they wanted to observe him in his natural environment, and Tony starts a National Geographic routine about "watch as the [=McGee=] moves slowly to the watering hole..." Then Tony walks into the study, where there is an old fashioned desk and a typewriter. Immediately he asks if that's the History channel room.
* ''{{Seinfeld}}'': on seeing the old equipment his dad works out with, Jerry comments, "Is this a gym or a fitness museum?"

* ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'' - Jackie subverts one of his own catch-phrases when he decides the Cat of Khartoum is too dangerous even for a museum, and [[NoManShouldHaveThisPower smashes it so no-one can have it]].

'''"Don't touch that MacGuffin."''' Here, the phrase is usually uttered by the resident AdventurerArchaeologist, but can be given by just about any NaiveNewcomer or TheEveryman who happens to stumble on something very old or valuable while exploring The Ruins. ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' was most likely either the TropeMaker or the TropeCodifier for this particular type. There are two common variations of this type.

In the first, the line serves to establish the character who utters it as a good and trustworthy person, in [[{{Foil}} contrast]] to the person he's saying this to, who will be (or, more likely, is) devoured by the GreenEyedMonster and will, in a relatively short time span, KickTheDog. It's likely that their response to this phrase will, in itself, be a KickTheDog.

'''"[[TheAllegedCar What a Piece of Junk!]]"''' This is a SarcasmMode version of Don't Touch That MacGuffin that gains a completely different meaning. In this case, a person is referring disparagingly to something because of its age or it doesn't work properly. The person then says that the thing is "so old/broken/weird it belongs in a museum." [[BreakOutTheMuseumPiece Which doesn't mean it won't get used in a pinch.]]

'''"It's too dangerous for us!"''' This usually occurs in AnAesop about the GreenEyedMonster. A group finds a treasure/MacGuffin and decides to split it. But soon, [[GoldFever everyone's turning on each other]] in order to get more than their own share or in order to get the [[ArtifactOfAttraction artifact]] all to himself. Eventually a truce is reached when the group realizes that [[NoMacGuffinNoWinner what they found is more trouble than it's worth]], and the item gets sent to a museum instead. Although, it's a very common story that a MacGuffin, under the care of a museum, will be the [[DangerousDeviceDisposalDebacle target of theft or cause trouble in some way]], so it takes a certain amount of GenreBlindness to believe that this really will solve the problem (in such cases, more GenreSavvy characters may decide that the only safe alternative is to [[NoManShouldHaveThisPower destroy the thing]]).

'''Type 1: "Don't touch that MacGuffin."''' Here, the phrase is usually uttered by the resident AdventurerArchaeologist, but can be given by just about any NaiveNewcomer or TheEveryman who happens to stumble on something very old or valuable while exploring The Ruins. ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' was most likely either the TropeMaker or the TropeCodifier for this particular type. There are two common variations of this type.

'''Type 2: "Really? [[TheAllegedCar You call that a car?]]"''' This is a SarcasmMode version of Type 1 that gains a completely different meaning. In this case, a person is referring disparagingly to something because of its age or it doesn't work properly. The person then says that the thing is "so old/broken/weird it belongs in a museum." [[BreakOutTheMuseumPiece Which doesn't mean it won't get used in a pinch.]]

'''Type 3: "It's too dangerous for us!"''' This usually occurs in AnAesop about the GreenEyedMonster. A group finds a treasure/MacGuffin and decides to split it. But soon, [[GoldFever everyone's turning on each other]] in order to get more than their own share or in order to get the [[ArtifactOfAttraction artifact]] all to himself. Eventually a truce is reached when the group realizes that [[NoMacGuffinNoWinner what they found is more trouble than it's worth]], and the item gets sent to a museum instead. Although, it's a very common story that a MacGuffin, under the care of a museum, will be the [[DangerousDeviceDisposalDebacle target of theft or cause trouble in some way]], so it takes a certain amount of GenreBlindness to believe that this really will solve the problem (in such cases, more GenreSavvy characters may decide that the only safe alternative is to [[NoManShouldHaveThisPower destroy the thing]]).

* ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade'' is the TropeNamer, where the line gets used twice in the introduction, first as noted in the Page Quote (when Indy is a teenaged [[ScoutOut Scout]]) and later when Indy is a full-fledged adventurer. Both refer to the same object, the Cross of Coronado. Note that this example falls under both Type 1 (again, when Indy says it) and Type 2 (Panama Hat's retort).

** There is also the cat statue that turns anyone who touches it into a cat. Jackie decides that destroying it is the best thing, this fits more with Type 3.

[[AC:RealLife]]
* There's an urban legend about the Hope Diamond that brought misfortune on whoever owned it. This stopped when it was donated to the Smithsonian Institution. (Although the curator once took it in his pocket to an exhibition in another country and had an extremely bad trip).

This trope is also a TruthInTelevision - under UK law, museums get first refusal of any treasure found in British soil, and under Canadian law, mammoth-tusk ivory belongs to Britain.

[[AC:RealLife]]
* There's an urban legend about the Hope Diamond that brought misfortune on whoever owned it. This stopped when it was donated to the Smithsonian Institution. (Although the curator once took it in his pocket to an exhibition in another country and had an extremely bad trip).

--> '''Panama Hat:''' So do you!

* Came up in ''Series/TheDickVanDykeShow'' of all places. Rob inherited an old-fashioned roll top desk from his IdenticalGrandfather, and searched it for a treasure which the grandfather had implied was hidden in it. The treasure turned out to be a picture of AbrahamLincoln taken by CivilWar photographer Matthew Brady. At first they were going to sell it, then weren't sure, and ended up giving it on permanent loan to a museum.

This trope is also a TruthInTelevision - under UK law, museums get first refusal of any treasure found in British soil, and under Canadian law, mammoth-tusk Ivory belongs to brittain.

* In the WarCraft universe, there is a character named Harrison Jones, a clear ShoutOut to IndianaJones. Naturally, he references IndianaJones frequently, but his character card in HearthstoneHeroesOfWarcraft has him destroy the opponents weapon, draw cards from it, while he says "That belongs in a museum!"

'''Type 3: "It's too dangerous for us!"''' This usually occurs in AnAesop about the GreenEyedMonster. A group finds a treasure/MacGuffin and decides to split it. But soon, [[GoldFever everyone's turning on each other]] in order to get more than their own share or in order to get the [[ArtifactOfAttraction artifact]] all to himself. Eventually a truce is reached when the group realizes that [[NoMacGuffinNoWinner what they found is more trouble than it's worth]], and the item gets sent to a museum instead. Although, it's a very common story that a MacGuffin, under the care of a museum, will be the [[DangerousDeviceDisposalDebacle target of theft or cause trouble in some way]], so it takes a certain amount of GenreBlindness to believe that this really will solve the problem (in such cases, more GenreSavvy characters may decide that the only safe alternative is to [[JustEatTheMacGuffin destroy the thing]]).

* ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'' - Jackie subverts one of his own catch-phrases when he decides the Cat of Khartoum is too dangerous even for a museum, and [[JustEatTheMacGuffin smashes it so no-one can have it]].

'''Type 2: "Really? [[TheAllegedCar You call that a car?]]"''' This is a SarcasmMode version of Type 1 that gains a completely different meaning. In this case, a person is referring disparagingly to something because of its age or it doesn't work properly. The person then says that the thing is "so old/broken/weird it belongs in a museum."

'''Type 3: "It's too dangerous for us!"''' This usually occurs in AnAesop about the GreenEyedMonster. A group finds a treasure/MacGuffin and decides to split it. But soon, [[GoldFever everyone's turning on each other]] in order to get more than their own share or in order to get the [[ArtifactOfAttraction artifact]] all to himself. Eventually a truce is reached when the group realizes that [[NoMacGuffinNoWinner what they found is more trouble than it's worth]], and the item gets sent to a museum instead. Although, it's a very common story that a MacGuffin, under the care of a museum, will be the target of theft or cause trouble in some way, so it takes a certain amount of GenreBlindness to believe that this really will solve the problem (in such cases, more GenreSavvy characters may decide that the only safe alternative is to [[JustEatTheMacGuffin destroy the thing]]).

* In the tamales episode of ''GoodEats'', the [[SpeakOftheDevil Nutritional Anthropologist]] Deborah Duchon and Alton are arguing over the eventual fate of a Mayan recipe wall. Interestingly, [[TheHero Alton]] is telling her to [[NoMacguffinNoWinner let the wall stay where it is]] (instead of destroying part of the temple) while Deb [[IronicEcho says]] that ItBelongsInAMuseum. ''Her'' museum, specifically. Which is when the entire thing (inevitably, perhaps) collapses into a parody of ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'', complete with Hovitos and "if only they knew you as I know you"/"you could tell them, if only you spoke Hovitos."

->'''Young Indy:''' [[TropeNamer That belongs in a museum!]]