I’ve been getting into reading more biographies, and for the most part, it’s been great, but there’s always a lingering thought in my head asking: how much of this is real? I remember large phases of my life, and I get that a biographer would interview people around them/take countless hours trying to remember the past, but how can you remember so many things in such great detail?
I think a lot of people have a sense of history in their correspondence. Even if someone is related to a prominent figure, and they’re writing them purely for enjoyment or normal correspondence, they might keep a copy of a letter they sent for posterity.
It also might be that they kept drafts for practical purposes. My mom keeps a draft of the yearly Christmas letter she sends to her cousins, so she can look back and see if she’s repeated herself at all over the years.
I think how awful it must be for historians when they know that diaries or correspondence were destroyed after a person’s death. So many spouses have burned diaries or letters after a death because of the pain or anger they feel. Such valuable historical records, lost because of a surge of emotion.