Microsoft delete all of my old mail?

I used my hotmail account relentlessly in college. I recently went back to retrieve a couple of screenplays I slaved over back then. I had emailed them to myself (I assumed it was a safe place) and they are all gone... I mean, I have ZERO email in my hotmail account. I just need confirmation... did Microsoft delete all of my years of email for some reason? Is there any way at all to get back some of my writing??

Thanks

Doug