When Jambands.com launched in the late summer of 1998, one of our steady West Coast contributors was Chico-based writer DNA. He checked in with us earlier today after writing an article on the new Grateful Dead archivist Nicholas Meriwether. Here’s a look…

Deep within an ultra-secret high-security room in UC Santa Cruz’s McHenry Library, Grateful Dead archivist Nicholas Meriwether patrols the inner sanctum of all things Dead—holding off the staggering collection from swallowing him whole.

So what’s behind closed doors?

One wall reveals the original artwork from the back of the band’s fourth studio album, Workingman’s Dead—beautiful charcoal drawings of the original Grateful Dead sextet. Endless boxes full of rare posters, concert tickets and laminates, hundreds of miles of business receipts, every book ever written on or mentioning the Grateful Dead, furniture from the headquarters of the band’s business office in San Rafael. Fans have contributed painted jackets, original blotter art and an army of dancing bears that bulge the seams of a jam-packed chamber that holds only 2 percent of the entire collection.

“In a hundred years I hope that this archive is able to give a future archeologist the stories of personal transformation that came out of the Dead scene,” beams Meriwether.

You can find the rest of the article, right here