WHAT: The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History and its Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation, in collaboration with the Surfing Heritage & Culture Center will host the “Wave of Innovation,” a donation ceremony and public program that will mark the cultural contribution of surfing and the film The Endless Summer.
WHEN: Saturday, Aug. 22; 1:30 p.m.: Donation ceremony
2 p.m.: Panel discussions
WHERE: National Museum of American History’s Warner Bros. Theater
Constitution Avenue, between 12th and 14th streets N.W.
WHO: Jane Rogers, curator, National Museum of American History
Jeffrey Brodie, deputy director, Smithsonian’s Lemelson Center
for the Study of Invention and Innovation
Paul Strauch, 1960s Duke Kahanamoku surf team member
Tom Morey, surf designer-inventor and founder, Morey Boogie Boards
Bruce Brown, filmmaker, The Endless Summer
Mike Hynson and Robert August, cast members, The Endless Summer
In a special ceremony, the National Museum of American History will accept a donation of five surfboards that represent the evolution of the surfboard from an early 1920s Duke Kahanamoku board to a Hobie Alter board of the 1960s. This collection is a definitive example of the innovations in surfboard technology, and it tells the story of the history of modern surfing and explores how the innovator of each of these boards played a major role in the development of the sport.
The donation ceremony will be followed by a program with clips from The Endless Summer with a discussion of the movie’s innovative filmmaking methods, inventions in surf technology over the years and the inventive creativity demonstrated in surf culture. Moderated by the Smithsonian Lemelson Center’s Jeffrey Brodie, the panel features Bruce Brown, The Endless Summer filmmaker, and surfers Mike Hynson and Robert August; Tom Morey, Boogie Board inventor; Paul Strauch, Surfing Heritage & Culture Center (SHACC) executive director; Duncan Wilson, SHACC’s education committee chairman; Barry K. Haun, SHACC curator; former Sen. Fred Hemmings, winner of the 1968 World Surfing Championships and founder of the Pipeline Masters and International Professional Surfers world tour; and Greg Noll, big-wave surfer featured in numerous surf films, surfboard shaper and founder of Greg Noll surfboards.
Note: Surfing-related objects are not currently on display.
Laura Duff
(202) 633-3129
duffl@si.edu
Kate Wiley
(202) 633-3312
wileyk@si.edu