Published by UCLA’s Steve Crocker, that initial request was meant to help generate unofficial notes that would facilitate the development of the modern Internet’s precursor.
However, as noted in a SciHi blog post, the RFC has evolved beyond that since the initial call for “Host Software” to a two-step process that helps provide a fuller picture of the Internet’s development.
Writes SciHi: “The serialized RFCs compose a continuous historical record of the evolution of the internet standards and practices.”