I've recently started reading Erik Larson's In The Garden of Beasts, dealing with life in Germany in 1933 as Hitler was rising to power. The book is a bit of a departure for Larson as it is a pure historical work as opposed to some of his other books which mix history with creative non-fiction. In this book, he relies heavily on documents and accounts written by real people rather than filling in some of the blanks with more creative storylines as he did in some of his other work.
One thing that really strikes me, not being a historian myself, is how much source material he was able to access in terms of letters and accounts of social events, social practices etc in Germany at the time. He writes almost as if he were there, and often quotes word-for-word from public and personal records.
I'm amazed at how much of this first hand material has survived over time, although I suppose I shouldn't be, given that material from earlier periods is maintained in personal collections and archives around the world. I wonder what kinds of legacies our generation will leave behind for future historians? Instead of paper letters, most of our correspondence is kept digitally, so I assume a lot will depend on whether digital data is maintained or erased over time, and how easily accessible it is to future generations in terms of ability to access older formats and devices.
"I assume a lot will depend on whether digital data is maintained or erased over time, and how easily accessible it is to future generations in terms of ability to access older formats and devices."
I have a box full of letters and post-cards, mostly from friends and a few from family, dating from the early to mid 90's. I don't have any of the emails from most of the time after that. I doubt that's too unusual.
(My parents did save, and print out, all the emails I'd sent them from when I was in the Peace Corps, though I sometimes wish they had not, as the most likely impression one would get is that I complained a lot.)
Brown said he and his coaches are game-planning as they normally would for their game against OU this weekend, but are paying special attention to Sooners LB Travis Lewis and the rest of the standout OU linebacking corps.