Archives – I want archive to start at a specific date

I have changed direction with my blog. However, I have 3 years of archives.

When I re-launch my blog, I still want access to my old stuff, but I don’t want it to show up in the archive.

My plan is to make pages for each year and then have each month as a link inside the body of the page post. Then on the side bar I want to put a link to “Really old stuff” that will take you to the various year posts.

I know how to do that.

What I can’t figure out is how do I “reset” my archive so it begins, say May 1, 2009.

Any thoughts?