View Grateful Dead Archivist Dick Latvala’s Digitized Scrapbooks
The late archivist’s personal notes from 1972 – 1998 are available online.
By Andy Kahn Mar 2, 2022 • 12:17 pm PST
Grateful Dead archivist Dick Latvala’s scrapbooks have been digitized. The nine notebooks spanning 1972 – 1998 of the late, original archivist for the legendary band are available to view online.
Latvala’s scrapbooks collection consists of newspaper clippings, letters, live photos of the Dead, concert ticket stubs and other ephemera. A longtime fan and taper, Latvala began working on the Grateful Dead’s extensive vault of live recordings in the 1980s and remained as the group’s archivist through his death in 1999. The later Latvala notebooks contain memorabilia related to his namesake Dick’s Picks Grateful Dead archival live release series that began in 1993.
As journalist and Good Ol’ Grateful Deadcast podcast host Jesse Jarrnow noted, Latvala’s scrapbooks were scanned by his ex-wife, Carol Latvala.
Dick Latvala died on August 6, 1999 at age 56. The Dick’s Picks series continued through 2005, culminating with the release that year of volumes 35 and 36. David Lemieux now serves as the Dead’s archivist.
View Dick Latvala’s Grateful Dead scrapbooks here.
