Local Surf History on Display

Some of the world's best surfing beaches are just minutes from UC Irvine. Closer still is a special collection at UCI's Langson Library that documents the history of surfing and surf culture in Orange County.

"It's a small collection, but one that appeals to a growing number of our patrons, in particular UCI undergraduates," says Steve MacLeod, Public Services Coordinator in Special Collections & Archives. "The surfing collection is part of a much larger collection on Orange County, and includes important materials related to local O.C. history, environmental activism in O.C., the Irvine Ranch, City of Irvine, Irvine Company, San Juan Capistrano Mission, city histories, ranchos, the 19th-century actress Helena Modjeska, and local politics," says MacLeod.

A sampling of the Libraries' surfing collection materials – including books, vintage photos and movie posters – is currently on display in Langson Library, near the fifth-floor entrance to Special Collections & Archives, through the end of June. It is is the first exhibit in the newly renovated Special Collections and Archives Department, which now has space for exhibits, and also a much improved environment for researchers in the Reading Room.

The UCI Libraries surfing collection features the first published depiction of surfing, in A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, a compilation of Captain James Cook's journals published in 1784, after the British explorer's death in Hawaii.

A sampling of the Libraries' surfing collection materials – including books, vintage photos and movie posters – is currently on display in Langson Library

"This is the first known illustration and written description of surfing," says MacLeod, "and it specifically shows and describes Cook's arrival at Kona's Kealakekua Bay on the Big Island in 1779. Far less exotic is the collection's 1935 issue of Popular Science Monthly that contains a how-to guide on making a surfboard, with photos of Newport Harbor High School students shaping balsa wood.

Konstantin Butz, a doctoral student in American studies at the University of Cologne, in Germany, visited the archive last summer to conduct research for a project on Southern California surf and skate culture. "The fact that there is such a thing as a special collection on surfing culture is very encouraging for someone doing academic work on skateboarding and corresponding cultures," he says. "Just being at the collection and skimming through a couple of the books was very inspiring."

MacLeod takes pride in the collection, and enjoys showing it off to visitors – from UCI students to local grommets and history buffs to filmmakers and European graduate students.

For further information, please contact Steve MacLeod at 949.824.4967 or smacleod@uci.edu.