Grateful Dead archives going to UC Santa Cruz

The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

The archives of the Bay Area rock band the Grateful Dead - a treasure trove of more than 30 years of memorabilia that includes the band's first recording contract, life-size skeletons of band members and artwork hand-made by its fans - are headed to UC Santa Cruz, where they will be displayed at McHenry Library.

Few bands are more associated with San Francisco, and the images connected with many of the archive items are instantly recognizable to millions of fans around the world. The archive, which occupies 2,000 square feet of a Marin warehouse, contains thousands of pieces.

Margaret Barrette, director for entertainment memorabilia sales at Bonhams & Butterfields auction house in Los Angeles, estimated the value of such a collection "in the millions." She said Bonhams' auction of Grateful Dead crew member Lawrence "Ramrod" Shurtliff's collection last year netted $1 million, "and that was only 100 pieces."