# What's the date of your oldest email on your current computer?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-date-of-your-oldest-email-on-your-current-computer/620994
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [May 5, 2012, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-date-of-your-oldest-email-on-your-current-computer/620994 "2012-05-05T15:19:51Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2012, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-date-of-your-oldest-email-on-your-current-computer/620994/1 "2012-05-05T15:19:51Z")
Not the contents nor to/from whom, just the date.
August 2002 for me.
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### Author:  [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2012, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-date-of-your-oldest-email-on-your-current-computer/620994/2 "2012-05-05T15:46:16Z")
12/13/2002
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### Author:  [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2012, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-date-of-your-oldest-email-on-your-current-computer/620994/3 "2012-05-05T15:54:35Z")
I switched from Netscape to Outlook in 2001, so I have stuff from 2001 in my active Outlook folders.
I still have my email folders from my Netscape account archived; emails in that probably date back to 1996 or so, but access is a bit tedious.
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### Author:  [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2012, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-date-of-your-oldest-email-on-your-current-computer/620994/4 "2012-05-05T15:56:38Z")
The oldest one I could find so far is Feb 13, 2006.
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### Author:  [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2012, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-date-of-your-oldest-email-on-your-current-computer/620994/5 "2012-05-05T15:57:10Z")
If you include archived emails, it’s going to be ca. 1995.
Emails actively available directly from my email client are likely to be more like 2003 or so.
Gmail, 2007-ish.
Work email, 4/18/2011.
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### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2012, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-date-of-your-oldest-email-on-your-current-computer/620994/6 "2012-05-05T16:22:02Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#):
>
> I switched from Netscape to Outlook in 2001, so I have stuff from 2001 in my active Outlook folders.
>
> I still have my email folders from my Netscape account archived; emails in that probably date back to 1996 or so, but access is a bit tedious.
That’s close to my story, too. The original internet-ready computer was a Compaq circa 1996 and when it gave up the ghost I had to start afresh with email on the new Dell. I could possibly retrieve older emails from floppies, if I just had to.
At work we used cc:Mail and Lotus Notes, but I never had the capability of retrieving those once I left work in 2000. Even so, the oldest emails I could hope to recover would have been from mid-90’s. (I’m not even counting “email” I would have swapped on the Commodore 64!)
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### Author:  [@Jman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jman)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2012, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-date-of-your-oldest-email-on-your-current-computer/620994/7 "2012-05-05T16:51:09Z")
I have to double check if I have any earlier, but I have every non-spam personal email received since August 1996.
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### Author:  [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2012, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-date-of-your-oldest-email-on-your-current-computer/620994/8 "2012-05-05T16:53:56Z")
Jan. 5, 2008. That’s right after I bought this computer.
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### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2012, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-date-of-your-oldest-email-on-your-current-computer/620994/9 "2012-05-05T16:54:36Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#):
>
> If you include archived emails, it’s going to be ca. 1995.
> [@Jman](#):
>
> I have to double check if I have any earlier, but I have every non-spam personal email received since August 1996.
Can anybody beat these on your current computer?
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### Author:  [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2012, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-date-of-your-oldest-email-on-your-current-computer/620994/10 "2012-05-05T16:58:22Z")
November 2005. I could probably dig up older ones if I try
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### Author:  [@The\_Man\_With\_The\_Golden\_Gun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_With_The_Golden_Gun)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2012, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-date-of-your-oldest-email-on-your-current-computer/620994/11 "2012-05-05T17:03:04Z")
December 20, 2011.
I had to change email addresses after nearly a decade at my old one because I was getting tons of spam and email chain letters.
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### Author:  [@DearestDane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DearestDane)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2012, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-date-of-your-oldest-email-on-your-current-computer/620994/12 "2012-05-05T17:27:17Z")
25/4/2004. Welcome from the Gmail team.
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### Author:  [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2012, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-date-of-your-oldest-email-on-your-current-computer/620994/13 "2012-05-05T17:28:56Z")
10/21/09.
Everything earlier than that is archived on some other hard drive somewhere. Or not at all. I don’t usually bother with keeping old emails around.
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### Author:  [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2012, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-date-of-your-oldest-email-on-your-current-computer/620994/14 "2012-05-05T17:29:45Z")
> [@DearestDane](#):
>
> 25/4/2004. Welcome from the Gmail team.
That’s not really on your computer though. I don’t think that webmail counts as far as the OP is concerned.
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### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2012, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-date-of-your-oldest-email-on-your-current-computer/620994/15 "2012-05-05T17:34:39Z")
> [@hajario](#):
>
> That’s not really on your computer though. I don’t think that webmail counts as far as the OP is concerned.
That’s true. I was looking for things on your own current computer.
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### Author:  [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2012, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-date-of-your-oldest-email-on-your-current-computer/620994/16 "2012-05-05T17:51:02Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#):
>
> Or not at all. I don’t usually bother with keeping old emails around.
But how else will I be able to prove that my cataloging professor told me the paper was due on 10/3/95 and not 10/1/95 like she’s now claiming? 😉
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### Author:  [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2012, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-date-of-your-oldest-email-on-your-current-computer/620994/17 "2012-05-05T17:53:15Z")
Over the years I have transferred most of my emails to the Outlook Express file on my current computer. The oldest one is one I received when I had a Compuserve account, dated March 23, 1993.
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### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2012, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-date-of-your-oldest-email-on-your-current-computer/620994/18 "2012-05-05T17:59:14Z")
> [@whitetho](#):
>
> Over the years I have transferred most of my emails to the Outlook Express file on my current computer. The oldest one is one I received when I had a Compuserve account, dated March 23, 1993.
The new one to beat! (Unless I missed an older one.)
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### Author:  [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2012, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-date-of-your-oldest-email-on-your-current-computer/620994/19 "2012-05-05T18:06:47Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#):
>
> If you include archived emails, it’s going to be ca. 1995.
No. I have one that’s 12/31/1969, and it’s not even archived.
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### Author:  [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2012, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-date-of-your-oldest-email-on-your-current-computer/620994/20 "2012-05-05T18:09:49Z")
I believe we have a winner.
Damn. What system was that? CTSS?
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