A curious new interest (read "obsession") has been sparked in my mind. At my day job, Texas Vital Statistics, we take forms that have been notarized, and we abstract other documents that are being used to process an amendment on a birth or death certificate. For those other documents we write at the bottom of the form the identifying information (names, titles, organization names, etc.) as well as pertinent dates. All of this is keyed into the system and it is printed on a the amendment, which is kept by the State of Texas in perpetuity. One piece of information we key in is the Notary's name and the date the document was notarized. After the name, we key in the words, "Notary Public, State of Texas". Every time I key that in, I want my name on a birth certificate amendment with those words after it, to be kept in perpetuity. By the State of Texas. It's a strange life goal, to be a Notary Public.
How else could I accomplish this, or something equal? I write letters to people. I need to do this more; however, that only matters if the people to whom I write bother to keep those letters. And, once I'm gone, who will care enough about these letters to care for them?
I was recently researching archiving technique and principles (because I do this sort of thing in my spare time) and something that I read struck me. I wish that I had marked where I read it. In describing the sort of things that ARE archived, the article mentioned that they tended to include things that happen as a result of the person's life, and less about things that are written or prepared by the same person, specifically to be used in their own biography. Interesting.
Let's say that I become an accomplished writer and maybe develop a cult following or a bit of notoriety. Perhaps my letters to people would be of more interest. Maybe somebody would bother to take the time to collect, organize and index them. They might be kept and archived. Probably not for a hundred years, but maybe for a while. Not as long as Thomas Jefferson or Stephen King, but maybe for a while,. I don't know why I care. But, I do.
Maybe it's middle age.