Surf and Skate Studies

SDSU has begun creating digital archival collections related to Surfing and Skateboarding. This Gordon & Smith Surf Advertisement Archive is the first collection of a larger effort to document the history of surfing and skateboarding in San Diego, Southern California, and beyond. The advertisements span from 1960-2005 and were published in Surf Guide, Surfing Illustrated, Surfer, International Surfing, Surfing Action Around the World, Surfing, and Longboard magazines. The magazines represented in the collection were scanned at the California Surf Museum in Oceanside.

This collection is dedicated to the memory of Eric Gordon who passed away before the completion of this project.

"The Historic Surfboard Collection includes over thirty surfboards from the personal collection of John Mazza, surfing aficionado and local Malibu resident. The boards, on permanent loan to Pepperdine University, represent the evolution of surfing and surfboard technology in the twentieth century with examples ranging from the 1910s to the 1980s."

The Surfing Heritage and Culture Center is home to one of the most comprehensive and significant collections of surfboards and surfing memorabilia in the world. View treasures beyond the SHACC Gallery at our eMuseum portal, complete with images, descriptions, and recollections from our curators.

The Digital Public Library of America brings together the riches of America's libraries, archives, and museums, and makes them freely available to the public. Search surfing or skateboarding to find additional digital archival collections.