The Verso Project: Happiness is a Warm Pup
Overview
This limited edition T-shirt is part of the first capsule collection of The Verso Project, an archival storytelling initiative from The New York Times Store that highlights rarely seen images from The Times’s archives. The shirt front features a highly detailed reproduction of a raw, unedited Times photo. The back of the shirt shows the reverse side of the print, also known as the verso, mirroring the physical photograph and telling the story of its usage through hasty annotations and glued on newspaper clippings.
From image selection to T-shirt color (transfer paper blue, a reference to the reproduction techniques of yore), every element in this capsule collection is highly considered. They are hand-printed by Philadelphia Printworks, a Black-owned, socially conscious heritage brand and screen-printing workshop inspired by past and present social equity movements. Shirts from The Verso Project are limited edition and single run. Once they sell out, they will not be produced or made available for sale again.
Read More
Is there anything better than a basket full of puppies? The photo on this shirt of six adorable, downy soft, six-week-old collies nestled together in a basket was originally published in the Sports section of The Times in April of 1942. It was later repurposed in another article on September 23, 1984, the intriguing headline of which read, “Can Happiness Be a Warm Puppy?”
Specifications
Made in the U.S.A.
Color: Transfer Paper Blue
Material: 100% cotton with plastisol decal
Care Instructions: Wash cold inside out. Hang dry (preferred) or tumble dry low. Do not iron over decal.
Made in the U.S.A.
Color: Transfer Paper Blue
Material: 100% cotton with plastisol decal
Care Instructions: Wash cold inside out. Hang dry (preferred) or tumble dry low. Do not iron over decal.
Made in the U.S.A.
Color: Transfer Paper Blue
Material: 100% cotton with plastisol decal
Care Instructions: Wash cold inside out. Hang dry (preferred) or tumble dry low. Do not iron over decal.
Made in the U.S.A.
Color: Transfer Paper Blue
Material: 100% cotton with plastisol decal
Care Instructions: Wash cold inside out. Hang dry (preferred) or tumble dry low. Do not iron over decal.
Made in the U.S.A.
Color: Transfer Paper Blue
Material: 100% cotton with plastisol decal
Care Instructions: Wash cold inside out. Hang dry (preferred) or tumble dry low. Do not iron over decal.
Made in the U.S.A.
Color: Transfer Paper Blue
Material: 100% cotton with plastisol decal
Care Instructions: Wash cold inside out. Hang dry (preferred) or tumble dry low. Do not iron over decal.
Made in the U.S.A.
Color: Transfer Paper Blue
Material: 100% cotton with plastisol decal
Care Instructions: Wash cold inside out. Hang dry (preferred) or tumble dry low. Do not iron over decal.
Processing time
Estimated processing time: 5-7 business days
Estimated processing time: 5-7 business days
Estimated processing time: 5-7 business days
Estimated processing time: 5-7 business days
Estimated processing time: 5-7 business days
Estimated processing time: 5-7 business days
Estimated processing time: 5-7 business days
The Verso Project
Inspired by the archives, this collection aims to give new life to Times history.
Specifications
Made in the U.S.A.
Color: Transfer Paper Blue
Material: 100% cotton with plastisol decal
Care Instructions: Wash cold inside out. Hang dry (preferred) or tumble dry low. Do not iron over decal.
Made in the U.S.A.
Color: Transfer Paper Blue
Material: 100% cotton with plastisol decal
Care Instructions: Wash cold inside out. Hang dry (preferred) or tumble dry low. Do not iron over decal.
Made in the U.S.A.
Color: Transfer Paper Blue
Material: 100% cotton with plastisol decal
Care Instructions: Wash cold inside out. Hang dry (preferred) or tumble dry low. Do not iron over decal.
Made in the U.S.A.
Color: Transfer Paper Blue
Material: 100% cotton with plastisol decal
Care Instructions: Wash cold inside out. Hang dry (preferred) or tumble dry low. Do not iron over decal.
Made in the U.S.A.
Color: Transfer Paper Blue
Material: 100% cotton with plastisol decal
Care Instructions: Wash cold inside out. Hang dry (preferred) or tumble dry low. Do not iron over decal.
Made in the U.S.A.
Color: Transfer Paper Blue
Material: 100% cotton with plastisol decal
Care Instructions: Wash cold inside out. Hang dry (preferred) or tumble dry low. Do not iron over decal.
Made in the U.S.A.
Color: Transfer Paper Blue
Material: 100% cotton with plastisol decal
Care Instructions: Wash cold inside out. Hang dry (preferred) or tumble dry low. Do not iron over decal.
Processing time
Estimated processing time: 5-7 business days
Estimated processing time: 5-7 business days
Estimated processing time: 5-7 business days
Estimated processing time: 5-7 business days
Estimated processing time: 5-7 business days
Estimated processing time: 5-7 business days
Estimated processing time: 5-7 business days
Before the digital era and Photoshop, retouchers used water-soluble paint and a variety of fine brushes to increase contrast, obliterate unwanted backgrounds, add details and highlight areas. As a result, the backs of many morgue photos look like well-traveled passports, illustrating a journey through time. They contain stamps, dates, publication history, clipped captions taped or glued on, and other notes about their usage.
Located three floors underground in Times Square, The New York Times’s picture library, known affectionately to insiders as the morgue, stores approximately six million pictures and is one of the oldest, largest and most comprehensive libraries in the world, with photos dating back to the turn of the last century. It’s also a working archive — its black-and-white photographs are used every day for the newspaper.
