The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and the Library of Virginia announced today a joint partnership to digitize and make available 62 years of Virginia Wildlife magazine issues — from January 1959 through December 2012.  If you currently subscribe or have ever read a copy of the state’s leading hunting, fishing, boating and wildlife magazine, you know that Virginia Wildlife  holds a wealth of information, historical facts, photographs, maps, and some classic wild game and fish recipes.

“We are pleased to offer to all Virginians who share our passion for healthy wildlife populations and their habitats the opportunity to look back at the Department’s contributions in managing the state’s wildlife and natural resources,” said Bob Duncan, VDGIF Director.

The project was made possible through the LYRASIS Digitization Collaborative – a Sloan Foundation grant-subsidized program that has made digitization easy and affordable for libraries and cultural institutions across the country.  Through a partnership with the Internet Archive, all items were scanned from cover to cover and in full color.  You can choose from a variety of formats, page through a magazine choosing the “read online” option, download PDFs, view on EPUB, Kindle, Daisy, DjVu, or search the full text version.  To view the collections, go to http://archive.org/details/libraryofvirginia or visit http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/virginia-wildlife/ for a direct link.