FOIAWEAR — SAVE THE TUBES / Pneumatic Mail Tee

FOIAWEAR / ARCHIVE SERIES 052 — SAVE THE TUBES

The building had its own pneumatic-tube mail delivery system, installed during its construction. It operated from 1962 until 1989.

It was not a small installation. The system had more than 30 miles of 4-inch-diameter tubing, and at that time it was one of the largest in the world — an organisation that moved its paper by air, in carriers, through the walls.

By 1989 the tube traffic had gone. Offices had moved into the New Headquarters Building, which had no tube system, and electronic communication had improved. The system was to be decommissioned, and not everyone agreed. “SAVE THE TUBES” became a rallying cry for many employees, and the campaign came complete with lapel pins and notepads.

The campaign did not succeed, but they had fun trying.

The artwork is drawn as a mid-century technical plate of the system itself: the brass tubing in its long runs, elbows and bends, a carrier shown inside a cutaway section of tube, the blower and valve gear at the end of the line, a stack of spare carriers, and the campaign's lapel pin and notepad set down beside the pipework.

Offered in twelve garment colours, printed as two different plates rather than one image re-toned. On the dark garments (Black, Graphite, Espresso, Navy, Pepper) the plate prints with pale walls, brass tubing and lit line work, so the machinery reads against dark cloth. On the light garments (White, Ivory, Butter, Chalky Mint, Light Green, Blossom, Chambray) it is drawn again as a three-ink screen plate for pale cloth — heavy charcoal line work with cross-hatching and halftone, the tubing in bronze, and the carrier in a deep red.

The QR code on the front opens the museum artifact page for the button — https://www.cia.gov/legacy/museum/artifact/save-the-tubes-button/

Note: the description above is as published with the artifact. No photograph of the system or the campaign material is reproduced in the artwork. This is not an official publication and is not affiliated with any government or agency.

Garment: Comfort Colors 1717 garment-dyed t-shirt. Heavyweight 6.1 oz/yd² (206.8 g/m²), 100% ring-spun US cotton, pre-shrunk, relaxed fit, double-needle stitched with no side seams and a sewn-in label. Sizes S–4XL. Printed on the front at 300 DPI; plain back. The main artwork prints at 10 × 10 in and the QR at 1.8 × 1.8 in.

Care: machine wash cold, inside out, with like colours. Tumble dry low. Do not iron directly on the printed area.

FOIAWEAR is an independent brand and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the Central Intelligence Agency, the United States government, or any other government or agency.