After the band asked fans to send in their names and addresses in the 1971 album Skull and Roses, many Deadheads sent letters, sometimes with accompanying art and in beautifully decorated envelopes. When the band started selling concert tickets directly, fans often illustrated the envelopes for ticket requests, hoping that an artistic effort would give them an edge for sold-out shows or good seats. The Archive has more than 14,000 fan envelopes, many of them works of art in their own right.

Deadhead art would grow increasingly sophisticated over the years, spanning the gamut from folk art to fine art. That democratic bohemianism is one of the hallmarks of the Grateful Dead phenomenon, and it is the spirit animating the exhibit. Though there are only a few books devoted to Deadhead art, a growing body documents the broader subculture, several of which are listed here. 

Further reading:

Native funk & flash; an emerging folk art. Text by Alexandra Jacopetti. Photographs by Jerry Wainwright 

• important, little-known work on Haight-Ashbury crafts, especially fabric art

Dead letters : the very best Grateful Dead fan mail / by Paul Grushkin 

• a book on Deadhead envelope art, drawing extensively on the Archive