The Verso Project: Turtle Race of 1975
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.
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The photograph on this shirt originally accompanied a Times article from July 1975. In his dramatic retelling, Len Ledbetter wrote, “The starter raised his arm, and the crowd surged forward to get a better view of the track. Crack! The sound of the blank being fired cut through the nervous chatter of the spectators, and the starting gate was lifted.” Was it the Kentucky Derby? The New York City Marathon? The Tour de France? No. It was the first International Turtle Race, held in Chester, N.J., and sponsored by the then-recently formed International Federation for the Advancement of Racing Turtles.
On the back of the photo, which is reproduced on the back of this shirt, is a cutting of Ledbetter’s epic opening scene, as well as observations from the photographer herself, Teresa Zabala, who appears to have typed up and ink stamped her notes directly onto the print. The back is also stamped with two dates, as this image was cropped and repurposed in a 1984 Times article on New Jersey’s turtle population.
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.
