The original Fillmore in San Francisco was the site of countless Grateful Dead concerts over the years and one of the band's most important venues, historically. So it was a fitting setting Thursday morning for a press conference featuring band members Bob Weir and Mickey Hart. Rumors flew that the two were going to announce another reunion tour, but the announcement ended up being much more academic. The Grateful Dead Archive will strike up public residence at UC Santa Cruz, in an area of the University Library's Special Collections named 'Dead Central.' That means the band's business records, photographs, program guides, handbills, laminates, awards, correspondence, press clips and more will all be available for research. Or, like, for Deadheads with five hundred shows on their hard drives that just have to see what the backstage pass looked like.

UC Santa Cruz Chancellor George Blumenthal stated, "The Grateful Dead Archive represents one of the most significant popular cultural collections of the 20th Century."

While the band's audio archives will not be included (although soundboards from hundreds of their shows may be streamed for free at www.archive.org), Dead Central at UC Santa Cruz will feature unreleased videos for viewing (including interviews and TV appearances), stage backdrops and other items that, you know, might otherwise belong in a Hard Rock Café somewhere. Weir noted, "If you ever wrote the Grateful Dead a letter, you'll probably find it there!" Um, dude, that letter was supposed to be between me and Jerry!