This slightly unusual collection of conference proceedings focuses on a series of events or moments which have left a permanent mark in the material record, all from the twentieth century. They look at how this micro-scale approach can inform wider pictures of change. The dramatic moments comprise: Marconis first wireless message, the sinking of the Titanic, the Battle of the Somme, the discovery of insulin, the first television broadcast, the introduction of compulsory driving tests in the UK, the Dambusters raid, the conquest of Everest, the launch of Sputnik 1, the destruction of District 6 in apartheid South Africa, the invention of the world wide web, the 1998 homophobic murder of Matthew Wayne Shepard, and the Millennium. Cornelius Holtorf offers a commentary on the concepts thrown up by the unusual approach, whilst Graham Fairclough looks at the implications for conservation.