"When my parents died, I inherited all of their photographs and papers as they had inherited their parents’ photographs and papers and so on back a few generations. . . . When an historian looks through archives, it’s often for clues to the things that are not there: lovers, important friendships, deleted sentences, political alliances, and shameful secrets. If the secrets are shameful enough, there’s been an attempt to hide them, but there are always clues. And so, here’s my question: Should I throw the three photos I’m looking at right now into the fire? Or should I keep them?"