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Thirty-two letters from Congreave to his father Wilberforce, written during Congreave's school and college years and describing summer fishing trips around New England with his maternal uncle Socrates Whipple. These letters describe materials used in fly fishing during these years, especially materials for tying artificial flies. The letters also contain exquisite, detailed, hand-drawn illustrations of various artificial flies, which Congreave either drew himself or acquired from other sources and then sent to this father.

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Correspondence from and to numerous friends, colleagues, and associates during the years 1952-1992. Correspondents include the French philosopher Michel Foucault, a companon of Congreave's on several fly fishing trips to the French Alps; Julia Child, with whom Congreave discussed recipes for serving trout and salmon; and B. F. Skinner, the Harvard behaviorial psychologist, who Congreave met during his final year at Harvard and whith whom Congreave maintained a correspondence, until Skinner's death in 1990, about their mutual passion for fly fishing. One letter from 1960 recounts Congreave's failed attempt to keep a journal during his fishing trips, which was thwarted when the journal fell into the Housatonic River and washed downstream. At that point Congfreave decided that making copies of his outgoing letters was the best way to document his passion for fly fishing; hence the collection typically includes both incoming and copies of outgoing correspondence.

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180 photographs illustrating Congreave's fishing expeditions from as early as the 1950s up to his final fishing vacationg in 1992. The photographs are annotated extensively, providing vivid details about the content of the photograph.