1941...
 D C Grotto
 ...where it all began
Merle and Bill Stephensonat a small cave norhwest of Lexington, VA, ca. 1940. Photo contributed by M. K. Miller
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The history of the D.C. Grotto begins with the organization of the Speleological Society of the District of Columbia in May 1939. The group included 66 members from the District of Columbia, Philadelphia, New York, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia. William J. Stephenson was elected president. Alden Snell was elected treasurer and Elmer Harmon, secretary. The Society established permanent committees to cover mapping, records, photography, exploration, fauna, paleontology, formations, publicity, program and activities, membership, junior members, and bibliography, and to ensure the safety of its members, the society drew up a safety code which was to be strictly enforced. The SSDC met periodically at the George Washington University and the YMCA during 1939 and 1940. Annual dues were $3.00.
That the founders of the SSDC planned from the beginning for the Society to grow into a national organization is clear from these statements in their first BULLETIN: It is hoped that the Society may form an official clearing house for all cave information ... and publish a periodical which will become the countrys official organ for the science of speleology, and It is hoped that active nuclei may be eventually formed to carry on organized activity in other sections of the country containing caves, and to become self-governing and eventually become affiliated with this society as one large national organization.
In the fall of 1940, the officers of the Speleological Society of the District of Columbia drafted a constitution for a proposed National Speleological Society. The draft NSS constitution stated that ... charter members of this Society shall be all members of the SSDC as of January 1, 1941, and all members of any other society whose main purpose is the study of speleology or exploration of caves, which gives notice in writing to the Board of Governors of the SSDC prior to January 1, 1941, that its membership desires to be included in this organization. This draft constitution was sent to several other caving groups which had become active in different parts of the country and was subsequently ratified by a caving group in New England. Thus on January 1, 1941, the founding of the National Speleological Society was complete and the original NSS had two chapters: one in the District of Columbia and one in New England.
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