Why the British Library archived 40,000 emails from poet Wendy Cope

Literary fans and academics have always been fascinated by the way author's private papers and correspondence inform and influence their creative output. But with far fewer letters flying between men and women of letters these days, digital files, especially email exchanges, are becoming more and more important.
At the end of last month, the British Library acquired the poet Wendy Cope's archive including its largest cache of an author's email to date: 40,000 emails written since 2004.
Wired.co.uk spoke to two of the British Library team working on that project -- Modern Literary Manuscripts curator, Rachel Foss, and Jeremy Leighton John, e-Manuscripts curator, to discuss the benefits and difficulties of capturing an author's digital life and what researchers of the future will have to root through.
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2011-05/10/british-library-digital-a...