Today everyone who supported the Kickstarter of the "Gary Gygax Memorial Game Table for Dungeons & Dragons Fans by Gygax Memorial" received an update from Paul J. Stormberg, President of the Gygax Memorial Fund. In there we could read about a nice tidbit of D&D history: on February 18th, 1973 Dave Arneson met with Gary at 330 Center St., Lake Geneva, WI to show him his Blackmoor game.
Check the video Paul J. Stomberg made to celebrate that milestone:
We can read more about that date in the video description: "On this date in 1973 when Arneson met with Gary to show him Blackmoor and Dave Megarry's game, DUNGEON! In a letter to Dave Arneson, Gary Gygax says, "looking forward to seeing you around the 19th" and "I'm eagerly awaiting information on BLACKMOOR" and in another postcard from February 7th, 1974, Gary Gygax tells Dave Arneson, "Printer has D&D nearly done, so your copy should be in mail next week." Thus Dave would have likely received his copy around the same time as the game concept was originally demonstrated a year earlier, around the 18th of February. That ties the introduction of Blackmoor through the development of D&D to its release into a neat little 1 year time frame. So, happy birthday D&D!"
Knowing that the original manuscript of Castle Greyhawk from 1973, the original characters' cards and the dices, all of them invaluable pieces of D&D history, are being so lovingly kept and preserved is very refreshing and evocative.