Sarah Palin’s leaked emails reveal struggle against family gossip

The 24,199 pages revealed Sarah Palin was struggling with gossip about her family before she rose to national prominence.

The State released only print emails, with many media organisations planning to scan the pages and post them online in a searchable form. As soon as they were released,  reporters and photographers crowded into a small office in the state capital Juneau to collect six boxes of emails, weighing a total of 100lb.

Palin's spokesman Tim Crawford said: "The thousands upon thousands of emails released today show a very engaged governor Sarah Palin being the chief executive of her state. The emails detail a governor hard at work."

The emails reveal that, before she was named nominee for vice-president in 2008, she was often dealing with complaints, rumours and gossip about her family.

In several, she asks about the identity of someone who alleged that she had not buckled her son Trig properly into his car seat.

Previous records requests have shed light on the Palin administration's efforts to advance a natural gas pipeline project and the role played by Palin's husband Todd in state business.