I\u2019m now half way through trying to identify reasons for why I\u2019m keeping some of the original letters and cards. I\u2019ve listed the items I\u2019ve not destroyed, given each of them a short description, and outlined in a few words why I\u2019ve kept each item. Now I\u2019m trying to categorise the reasons.<\/p>\n
This part of the exercise has been illuminating. As I\u2019ve been going through the items I\u2019ve retained, I\u2019ve needed to refer to the full set of scanned documents to identify relative dates and activities that have come before and after. This has made me realise just how good it is to have such easy access to all one\u2019s friends over all these years. Their writings are all there, in full technicolour and expanded detail, at the touch of a few keys. It really is amazing.<\/p>\n
The task of categorisation is really a rote one: you need to make a first pass through and then adjust a few times to settle on the most appropriate categories which overlap as little as possible. I\u2019m only halfway through right now so can\u2019t provide any categorisation at present. However, I can say that I\u2019m doing this analysis over 265 items sent by 59 individuals. I have a feeling that the reasons for keeping are going to be significantly different from the categories identified from the analysis of documents saved from work documents and mementos<\/a>.<\/p>\n There is one significant issue that has already reared its head in this reasons-for-keeping work. It seems that the question of who is going to look at this material is affecting the judgements I\u2019m making. For example, if it was only going to be me looking at these missives, I believe that the collection of items I would retain would be different from the collection I would retain if others were to be looking at it. The possible categories of other people could be: family, friends of the people who wrote the missives; any of my friends who don\u2019t know the individual who wrote the missive. I have yet to understand the impact of this insight. It\u2019s possible I may need to be clear about who will see the collection of originals and adjust the originals I keep accordingly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I\u2019m now half way through trying to identify reasons for why I\u2019m keeping some of the original letters and cards. I\u2019ve listed the items I\u2019ve not destroyed, given each of them a short description, and outlined in a few words … Continue reading