The Vanishing History Project
Every state requires government employees to archive official communications so they can be located and produced when needed. Retention policies, however, haven’t kept pace with the way people communicate in the 21st century. As a result, vast amounts of government correspondence — texts, emails, social-media messages — are routinely destroyed without consequence. The Vanishing History Project spotlights what’s lost when agencies fail to capture, organize and produce electronic communications, and develops model protocols for data retention and production.