There are amongst ancient writers names that we know but for whom we have no written works. Sometimes we have a good idea of how they were thought of but all their work is lost and even for the greats we do know, we don’t have all their works. Very rarely amongst the archeology suddenly their names come alive for us with a line here or there but we should take very seriously our attempts to save what we can of those we feel worthy of being read in future.
As I scan in my mother’s work knowing that one day the name of Shänne Sands will be well known and loved, not only have I scanned her written body of work but I found hundreds of letters sent to her and I have added those in the archive. Simply reading them puts so much flesh on the bare facts of a life, the shared pleasures and worries that faced her, the changes of address, the moments when vital decisions were taken, they even show how honest a person is expressing to those who love her what she thought and what she hoped.
I don’t think I could over-estimate how wonderful such archives are and the thought of what may be out there to find of names we have lost, works we have never read, these things are the important inspirations for our thoughts. They are pillars of our intellectual curiosity, the recorders of our undiluted humanity and the underlying certainty to our reason.