"My personal notes are to be burned."

This is a line in the late Pope's last will and testament. Harlan Ellison has a similar standing order: all unfinished works and drafts are to be destroyed on his death (there may be others, of course). Obviously, as an historian, I have deeply mixed feelings about this: as an historical figure, the late Pope's personal papers could be extremely valuable sources for answering questions we haven't even considered asking yet. It saddens me -- and piques my curiousity -- as an historian, to see such valuable materials intentionally destroyed. This isn't an accident, a side effect of war, archival degradation or deaccession, theft, etc. It's a deliberate closing of avenues of investigation and understanding. On the other hand, as with Ellison, I respect the desire to be remembered for public works and words, without the added complications and ambiguities that private papers and drafts could instill. Given the fairly tight control which the Roman Catholic Church exercises over its archives, it seems to me that John Paul II could have surrendered his papers to their custody with confidence that neither his legacy nor the Church's integrity would be seriously threatened.

Update: Hugo Schwyzer thinks the Pope is on to something, and resolves to do his own documentary purge in the near future.