About the Bureau

I. Purpose

The Bureau exists to receive, catalogue, and preserve letters that have been written in good faith and withheld from the post. It does not judge the reasons for withholding. It does not attempt delivery. It does not return letters to their writers, except upon written request accompanied by a stamped envelope and a brief account of what has changed.

II. Intake

Letters may be delivered in person during intake hours, or slipped beneath the door of the Bureau at any time. Each letter is assigned a number on the morning following its receipt. The writer's name, if given, is recorded in a separate register kept under lock; the addressee's name is not recorded at all.

III. Conservation

Letters are stored flat, in acid-free folders, in a room kept at a constant temperature and a constant quiet. They are handled only with clean hands. They are read once, at intake, by the keeper on duty, for the purpose of assigning a number and a brief description. They are not read again, except by permission of the writer, or after a period of fifty years, or when the keeper cannot help it.

IV. The Keeper's Obligation

The keeper of the Bureau is obliged to treat every letter as if it were the only one, and also as if it were one of many. This is not a contradiction. It is the condition of the work.

V. On Forwarding

The Bureau does not forward letters. A letter, once unsent, has completed its first and proper journey, which is from the hand that wrote it to the desk that received it. Any further journey is a different letter, and must be written anew.

VI. On Reading

The Bureau does not forbid reading. It asks only that reading be done slowly, and in a good light, and with the understanding that the words were not written for the reader, and yet, now, are.

Keepers, 1904–present

1. H. Ainsworth1904 – 1929
2. M. Ainsworth1929 – 1951
3. R. Calloway1951 – 1983
4. E. Vesper1983 – 2014
5. S. Lind2014 – present