The DC Grotto is producing a limited edition t-shirt commemorating 70 years of organized caving in the Washington, DC area. While researching the Grotto's history, Ed found a 1940 member list. Do you know any of these folks?
Organized caving first appeared in the Washington, DC area in 1939 when the Speleological Society of the District of Columbia (SSDC) was founded. Prior to World War II, the SSDC reorganized as the NSS with the New England Grotto (now defunct) and the DC Grotto as its two founding chapters or Grottos. However, with the DC local caver focus more on promoting the new NSS, DC Grotto did not start to really grow as an active and distinct club until sometime during 1944.
The illustrations below show the front and back design for the shirts. The design reflects the grotto's heritage, featuring an "old-style" caver crawling into the "7" in black-and-white who resembles DC caving forefather Bill Stevenson, and a "new-style" caver crawling out of the zero in modern gear and vivid color. The backpack and helmet of the modern caver will be in whatever color you select for your t-shirt. The design was developed by the Grotto's resident artist, Keely Owens, from a concept by Doug Duncan and with sometimes useful input from the Grotto's Executive Committee.
The t-shirt illustrations, and approximate shirt colors, are shown below.
Further details are on this Order Form. (PDF) You may print this off, or use a hard-copy flyer from a meeting or the Speleograph, or download this Flyer. (PDF)
T-shirt front -- light-blue cloth |
T-shirt front -- dark-blue cloth |
T-shirt back -- light-blue cloth |
T-shirt back -- dark-blue cloth |
Evolution of the Design
04-Dec-2009
After many more comments and opinions, the result is this design, for the front and back.
01-Dec-2009
After considering various comments and reactions, Keely has produced a refinement of the front design.
28-Nov-2009
After much discussion and voting, Keely's sketch #3 was the clear winner. Now, Keely has done an excellent job of making a more detailed version, with color!
Here is the design for both the front and the back.
12-Nov-2009
Here are some initial sketches of proposed design ideas for T-shirts commemorating 70 years of DC area organized caving.
First, we have Keely's pencil sketches, which can be viewed in three ways:
- On Sheet-1 ( 3 designs ), and on Sheet-2 ( 4 designs ).
- Individually: Sk-1 | Sk-2 | Sk-3 | Sk-4 | Sk-5 | Sk-6 | Sk-7
- Scrollable: In-sequence
Also, in color, we have Bob Gulden's latest design. [PDF]
Most browsers permit you to easily re-size the images to either full size, or to fit within the window.