New Acquisition: Chicago Ledger August 1915 Featuring “The Surf Riders”
- Marcus Maraih
- 12 January 2025

Sometimes we’re able to secure ephemera from collectors who have taken great care to preserve the delicate pages and ink that recorded a moment in Hawaii’s surf history. But more often than not we have to rescue parchments from far less idyllic conditions, with the battle scars of poor storage to prove it. Admittedly, this curator finds great beauty in the patina. It tells a story and feels more authentic than those which have been encased in a mylar sleeve from the moment it left the newsstand more than a century ago. Such is the case with this most recent acquisition; the Chicago Ledger featuring “The Surf Riders” in the warm waters of Waikiki, Honolulu.
The full-page illustration by Theodore “Ted” Hamilton would surely have caught the eye of anyone passing newspaper kiosks along Michigan Avenue and the Windy City’s other oldest thoroughfares. The August 28, 1915, issue has clearly been well-read and handled, likely inciting privileged Chicagoans to pack up their trunks and two-step from rail to ocean-liner towards the promise of North Pacific surf.

Stay tuned as SMH adds more pieces to our ever-growing collection of historical surf print.