Welcome! Imaginary Shirt is a project where I research visual elements from high schools’ histories and then use them to make new t-shirt concepts. If you’re associated with one of these schools and would like to make any of these imaginary shirts a reality, let me know! I’d love to help you accomplish that. This companion newsletter gives some more details on process and on the schools featured. Enjoy!
Instagram Week in Review
Monday, 29 May 2023—Hoover Huskies, Des Moines, IA
In 2000, Hoover teacher Timm Pilcher formed the band Faculty Lounge with some other teachers. The band expanded to ten members, all of whom have worked in Des Moines schools. According to their website, Faculty Lounge is “Des Moines’ premier ten-piece, horn-driven, all-teacher, multi-hyphenated old-school funk machine!” Wikipedia notes that the band has performed on three occasions for Barack Obama.
See more designs from the Hoover set here.
Tuesday, 30 May 2023—North Polar Bears, Des Moines, IA
I love that North’s colors are pink and green. A history of North on the school’s website explains that:
In 1892, the school colors were chosen. During this year, a parade was held in Des Moines, and the schools marched wearing their school colors. Miss Louise Patterson, principal of North, suggested that pink and green be used (North had previously been without colors).
Later in 1894, a committee was appointed to select school colors. After several combinations had been considered, one boy looked out the window and saw pink blossoms set against the green leaves of a crab apple tree. “Why not pick the colors which we have already used,” he said. The committee then chose pink and green as the official colors of North High School.
See more designs from the North set here.
Wednesday, 31 May 2023—Saydel Eagles, Des Moines, IA
After poking around a bit, I was able to ascertain that “Saydel” is a portmanteau of the townships of Saylor and Delaware. The QUITE comprehensive The History of Polk County, Iowa, published in 1880, explains the importance of understanding the origins of a community and also helps you to understand why it is 1,037 pages long, saying:
Every nation does not possess an authentic account of its origin, neither do all communities have the correct data whereby it is possible to accurately predicate the condition of their first beginnings. Nevertheless, to be intensely interested in such things is characteristic of the race, and it is particularly the province of the historian to deal with first causes. Should these facts, as is often the case, be lost in the mythical tradition of the past, the chronicler invades the realm of the ideal, and compels his imagination to paint the missing picture. The patriotic Roman was not content till he had found the “First Settlers,” and then he was satisfied, although they were found in the very undesirable company of a she bear, and located on a drift, which the receding waters of the Tiber had permitted them to preempt.
It goes on to describe Mr. John Saylor’s settlement of the land that would become Saylor Township:
In April, 1845, John Saylor settled on the east side of the Des Moines river, some distance above the Fort. The conditions of his permit to settle there before the expiration of the Indian title, were that he should furnish hay and other provisions to the garrison. To Mr. Saylor belongs the credit of making the first settlement in the Des Moines valley, north of Fort Des Moines. The claim which he selected was a very valuable one, there being a beautiful grove near by, good water was easily obtained and the land was of the best quality. He must have seen something peculiarly attractive in the locality to be induced to endure the privations which he could not help knowing were in store for him. Moreover, both Mr. Saylor and his wife were persons of brave and persevering disposition, and they cheerfully endured present ills in hope of certain future good. It is said that Mrs. Saylor remained alone on the claim for six weeks, while her husband went to Yan Buren county to transact some business. The wolves were numerous and fierce, and she has remarked that they would chase the house dog past the door of the cabin and stare at her with their fiery eyes as she sat down to her sewing.
See more designs from the Saydel set here.
Thursday, 1 June 2023—Roosevelt Roughriders, Des Moines, IA
You don’t have to look far when researching Theodore Roosevelt High School to find this cool 1940 WPA poster for a forum in Des Moines with professor Max Lerner:
According to the morning edition of the January 24, 1940 Des Moines Register, though, the forum was relocated to East High, and never took place at Roosevelt at all. It seems like it was an interesting event nonetheless, with Lerner discussing the difficulties of balancing the preservation of both democracy and civil liberties as the United States debated entering World War II.
The day after the event, the Register reported that, “Because of new tensions in this country, arising out of the war in Europe, however, he said there are those who would ‘fish in troubled waters’ for power, by exploiting irrational fears of the people…These power-seekers Lerner denounced as ‘subversive’ and ‘un-American.’ He said the fears they would exploit are the irrational and unfounded fears of the ‘alien, Jewish, Red, labor agitators.’”
See more designs from the Roosevelt set here.
Friday, 2 June 2023—Valley Tigers, West Des Moines, IA
2008 Olympic gold medalist Shawn Johnson attended Valley, and I liked the details in this paragraph from a New York Times profile ahead of those 2008 games:
As a sophomore last year at Valley High School, she got all A’s, studied Hemingway and Faulkner, dissected a cow eyeball and attended the prom in a sparkly yellow dress, accompanied by 41 of her best friends.
The article also talked about Johnson rounding a corner in a grocery store, to be greeted by a life-sized cardboard cutout of herself. I imagine that would be fairly disorienting. But I also imagine that she got paid for it.
See more designs from the Valley set here.
Saturday, 3 June 2023—Bishop Heelan Crusaders, Sioux City, IA
Edmond Heelan was born in Ireland in 1868, and came to the United States as a priest in 1890. In 1920, he was made a bishop in Sioux City, Iowa.
The September 13, 1928 issue of the Catholic Telegraph reported on the International Eucharistic Congress held in Sydney, Australia, and noted that Bishop Heelan was among an American delegation that had sailed to Australia on the A.M.S. Ventura. Having come to Iowa from Ireland, Bishop Heelan was clearly not a complete stranger to international travel, but I cannot fathom what it must have been like to travel to Sydney, New South Wales from Sioux City, Iowa in 1928.
See more designs from the Bishop Heelan set here.
Sunday, 4 June 2023—Ames Little Cyclones, Ames, IA
Ames High’s motto, as seen here, is “Ames Hi Aims High.” I go back and forth between thinking this is the most painfully cringeworthy thing that I’ve ever heard, and thinking that it’s the most brilliant thing I’ve ever heard. According to the Ames High School Alumni Association website and various other sources that seem like they may have got their info from the Ames High School Alumni Association website, the motto was the winner of a contest, submitted by Marjorie Price, who graduated Ames in 1924. I couldn’t independently verify that story, but I was excited to check the 1924 Spirit yearbook to catch a glimpse of the kind of mind who could come up with something as novel as “Ames Hi Aims High.”
Here she is, chorus and glee club member Marjorie Price, class of ‘24. I think I like her:
It appears that she may have been a member at Iowa State of Sigma Alpha Iota, which is a “women’s music fraternity.” which was something I was not aware existed.
See more designs from the Ames set here.
From the Archive
City Little Hawks, Iowa City, IA
While doing research about City High, I found this article by Dave Parsons of the Iowa City Press-Citizen, which includes words that I will now name the official motto of this newsletter, and this project in general:
“Another piece of trivia that maybe only I care about is that…”
If you’re still reading and/or still following the project on Instagram, thanks. I know it’s pretty niche, but I think all this stuff is interesting, and I hope you find some of it interesting, too.
See more designs from the x set here.
A Recommendation
Our family has been enjoying the DownieLive YouTube channel, which is mostly a pretty charismatic Canadian dude traveling around, usually riding trains. People who like that sort of thing will find that this is precisely the sort of thing they will like.
See you next week! Tell your friends!