This article discusses how e-mail and e-mail archives can serve as legacy for individuals, families, and societies. Toward this end, it outlines the scope and scale of e-mail as a tool and a task, and gives an overview of the many individual, group, and institutional factors in e-mail management that influence the form and contents of e-mail archives. Finally, drawing on the authors' experiences and observations as personal information management (PIM) researchers, the article discusses e-mail management practices, makes recommendations for effective e-mail management, and suggests future research topics that span library and information studies.