I am resubmitting a post which I originally tried to post by hitting 
reply.  For some reason, for the second time today, a post submitted 
through reply did not come through to the whole List.  (I tried to 
reply to Steve earlier on the Wallace article, then just recrafted it 
as a new message with a new topic.)  Whereas standalone posts are 
coming through from me.  Something must be blocking me from getting 
through the filters.

OK, on the email question:

Interesting responses! Keep in mind that I'm an historian and formerly 
worked as an archivist, so my "expertise," such as it is, lies on the 
side of what's permanently valuable. I haven't been called on to give 
much thought to what is ephemeral, although some of my work touches on 
records management. So that part is not my strong suit.

When I referred to cancellation of a staff meeting, I was thinking of a 
simple message without attachments which would be sent around to 
something such as the Nixon Project tapes staff where I once worked. 
You know, the type of thing my boss would have handled back in the 
1980s by posting a handwritten note on the door saying, "today's minion 
meeting is cancelled."

Obviously, the records of some officials' daily activities are 
preserved much more carefully than others. Think
http://www.si.umich.edu/FordLibrary/daily.diary.html
or
http://www.jimmycarterlibrary.org/documents/diary/

No need to keep those types of records for an official at my level, 
LOL.

But your responses do point to the fact that sometimes people may want 
to keep convenience copies of records beyond the scope of a retention 
schedule. Just to jog their memories, aid them in working on future 
prjects, or "prove" that they did what they said they did. Some of you 
previously have pointed out wisely that the best way to deal with 
recordkeeping issues is to think through the underlying behavioral 
issues.

Maarja

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