The Grateful Dead Archive at UC Santa Cruz

Friends and Partners:

Special Collections has enjoyed partnerships in the past with special individuals, foundations, and philanthropically oriented corporations.

• The Grateful Dead’s major foundations Unbroken Chain and the Rex Foundation have funded the processing of UCSC’s Lou Harrison Archive.

And we have the promise of future help in the Grateful Dead Archive from such generous supporters as:

• Rhino Entertainment
• Bill Watkins and Seagate Technology
• Nion McEvoy and Chronicle Books

Join us now to help preserve and share the content of this iconic collection of music history.

Support the Archive:

We need your help to preserve the artifacts and documents and to make the Grateful Dead Archive accessible to fans and scholars all over the world.

Your donation will provide essential operating support for preserving and maintaining the Archive, including cataloging, digital conversion, Web delivery, and exhibition.

Help us keep the Grateful Dead Archive alive and share the resources with others. Donate Now.

The Grateful Dead Archive represents one of the most significant popular cultural collections of the 20th Century. It documents the Dead’s incredible creative activity and influence in contemporary music history from 1965 to 1995, including the phenomena of the Deadheads, the band’s extensive network of devoted fans, and the band’s highly unusual and successful musical business ventures.

The Archive contains original documents, clippings, media, article and other publications about the Dead and its individual members, its tours and performances, productions, and business. Among the resources that will be invaluable for researchers are show files, programs, newsletters, posters, cover art, photographs, tickets and stickers. These artifacts document three decades of the band’s recordings and its performance of thousands of concerts. A collection of stage props, tour exhibit material, and, of course, tee-shirts gives dimension and visual impact to the collection. An unusual feature of the Archive will be the correspondence and art contributed over the years by supportive Deadheads and held as very important by the Dead.

The Archive, when processed, will be widely and freely accessible to fans and scholars It will be housed on the UCSC campus, and material from it will be prominently displayed and available for listening, viewing, and research in a dedicated Grateful Dead room located in UCSC’s new and renovated McHenry Library.

It is expected to take two years to process the Archive; parts of the collections will be debuted in stages as processing progresses. Material in the Archive will be physically preserved, its content described in detail in an electronically available finding aid, and digital copies, when appropriate, will be offered for viewing and listening from a UCSC Grateful Dead web site.

Special Collections offers the general public, visiting scholars, and the academic community access to the University Library’s most unique holdings. Its collection of rare books and manuscripts, historical documents, cultural artifacts and fine art and photography celebrate and promote ingenuity, scholarship, and creativity.

Among its noteworthy collections and archives are the papers of science fiction author Robert Heinlein, the painted poems and prose of Beat writer and peace activist Kenneth Patchen, and the music manuscripts, recordings and other artifacts of maverick American composer Lou Harrison.

Collections are further described in the Library’s local catalog Cruzcat, in many electronic finding aids, and in Special Collections’ website.

UCSC and the Grateful Dead both arose in California in the exciting cultural landscape of the mid 1960s. UCSC has become a world class research university with a strong commitment to student-centered learning and public service. Sited in an environment of incomparable natural beauty, the campus offers an array of undergraduate programs, and now students pursue advanced degrees in more than thirty fields.

For many years the Music Department has offered the extremely well attended course “Music of the Grateful Dead,” a contextual study of the sociology and history from 1960s on, taught by Professor Fred Lieberman. Lieberman is co-author with Mickey Hart of Planet Drum, Drumming At the Edge of Magic, and Spirit Into Sound. Members of the band are frequent lecturers in this popular course.

The University’s Ph.D. program in Music emphasizes cross cultural and interdisciplinary studies, and with the Grateful Dead Archive UCSC more firmly positions itself as a destination site for the study of American vernacular music and popular culture.

UCSC has long hosted the frequently visited “Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics” website, and our popular campus mascot the Banana Slug (Ariolimax Dolichophallus) has just taken on new attire and become truly Grateful.