IGFA Announces the E.K. Harry Digital Archive, a Landmark Effort to Preserve the World's Sportfishing Memory
Multi-year initiative will transform the E.K. Harry Library of Fishes, the world's most comprehensive collection devoted to game fish and recreational angling, into a searchable digital platform available to researchers, anglers, and the public
July 21, 2026
The International Game Fish Association (IGFA) has announced the launch of the E.K. Harry Digital Archive, an ambitious multi-year initiative to digitize, catalog, and preserve the holdings of the E.K. Harry Library of Fishes, the most significant single-topic collection of sportfishing history in the world. When complete, the project will make millions of unique assets, from expedition scrapbooks and historic photographs to world record documents and rare films, searchable on a modern digital platform for the first time.
Housed at IGFA headquarters in Dania Beach, Florida, the E.K. Harry Library of Fishes was established in 1973 by IGFA Vice President Elwood K. Harry, who envisioned a global repository for materials related to recreational fishing. For more than 50 years, the library has grown into a collection of remarkable scope, documenting famous catches, pioneering expeditions, scientific breakthroughs, conservation milestones, tournament history, tackle development, and the lives of the most influential figures in the sport.
The collection, by the numbers:
· Approximately 500,000 historic photographs and negatives
· 725,000 pages of historical documents, including original world record applications
· 4 million pages of magazines spanning more than 150 periodicals
· 16,000 books, including rare first editions
· Roughly 5,000 audio and video recordings
· 7,500 cultural heritage objects, from historic tackle to Fishing Hall of Fame materials
The E.K. Harry Digital Archive will digitize everything unique to the library using the latest technology in optical character recognition, handwritten text recognition, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. Every item will be assigned rich metadata and made discoverable on a platform accessible to researchers, educators, and the angling public worldwide.
"Since 1939, the IGFA has been the keeper of sportfishing's records, rules, and history," said Jason Schratwieser, IGFA President. "The E.K. Harry Digital Archive is the natural extension of that responsibility. No other organization holds a collection like this, and no other organization is taking on preservation at this scale. We are ensuring that the story of our sport, and the people who built it, is never lost."
Among the first materials to be digitized are the Michael Lerner expedition scrapbooks, which document the globe-spanning voyages of the 1930s and 1940s that led to the founding of the IGFA and helped establish the scientific study of game fish species. Joining them are the IGFA's historic publications, including the International Angler and World Record Game Fishes and its predecessors dating back to the 1950s, along with organizational records featuring original correspondence with legendary figures such as Ernest Hemingway, S. Kip Farrington, and Van Campen Heilner.
“The E.K. Harry Library of Fishes is not just an archive – it is a living record of exploration, conservation, and human connection to the water,” said George Matthews, IGFA Trustee and Trustee of the Harry Memorial Trust. “The photographs, in particular, tell stories that cannot be replicated: moments in time that reflect the evolution of fisheries, the people who shaped them, and the environments that sustain them.”
The project is expected to take approximately two years, with the first digitized collections coming online in phases as the work progresses.
An investment in the sport's future
Preservation at this scale requires significant resources. The full digitization effort represents an investment of approximately $1.6 million, and its pace and scope will be determined by fundraising success. The IGFA has committed internal resources to begin the work, supported in part by the Harry Memorial Trust, established through the will of E.K. Harry for the sole benefit of the library. The organization is now seeking donors and partners who share its commitment to preserving the history of the sport. Contributions directly accelerate the digitization of at-risk materials, and donors may also choose to fund the preservation of specific collections, including club histories and the archives of the sport's most storied figures. Those interested in supporting the E.K. Harry Digital Archive are encouraged to reach out directly or give through the project's landing page.
A call to the angling community
The IGFA invites fishing clubs and organizations around the world to consider contributing their own history to the EK Harry Digital Archive. Inquiries about contributing materials or accessing the collection may be directed to [email protected].
To learn more, follow the project's progress, or support the initiative, visit: www.igfa.org/library.