Just stumbled on this great site, Letters of Note. The generous folks there put up a new, previously unpublished letter/fax/telegram/note every weekday. Spend some time and you’ll find out what Einstein really thought about God, or a fabulous rant by Hunter Thompson, who clearly didn’t believe in internal censors. Or, in today’s offering, what Marlon Brando said via telegram to Michael Jackson.
Seeing such a treasure trove does make me wonder: what, exactly, will happen to history when we no longer give it solidity? Does anyone–other than, say, the President and minions of similar ilk–save more than a smattering of emails? Re-reading letters–Poe’s, Einstein’s, Dickens’s–is a way of connecting not only with the past but the mortar and brick of history and this can only be so because the letters are things, not random electrons easily wiped away with the tap of a forefinger.
Be a shame to lose that kind of connection to the past. Maybe that’s why I like writing books 🙂
