Tompkins Conservation maintains its archives in the Stanford University Library to support ongoing field research in Chile and Argentina

The Tompkins Nature Conservancy was co-founded by the late Doug Tompkins (founder of The North Face and Esprit) and Kris Tompkins, former CEO of Patagonia, Inc.

STANFORD, Calif., April 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Tompkins Conservation and its co-founders and funders, Kristine McDivitt Tompkins and the late Douglas R. Tompkins, donated their personal files and those of their conservation and rewilding work in South America to the Stanford University Library. These historical, legal, and scientific records will directly benefit faculty and students who continue Stanford's long tradition of fieldwork in Chile and Argentina and who are interested in land conservation programs.

Kristine McDivitt Tompkins 和已故的 Douglas R. Tompkins。 ©Tompkins Family Archives.

In response to the global crisis of climate change and biodiversity loss, Tompkins Nature Conservation and its independent nonprofit sub-organizations, Rewilding Argentina and Rewilding Chile, have been working for more than three decades to protect and restore large-scale, pristine and connected landscapes that enable human communities, flora and fauna, to thrive. Tompkins Nature Conservation has worked with public and private partners to promote the creation or expansion of 15 national parks, including two marine national parks, protecting 14.8 million acres of land and 30 million acres of ocean in Argentina and Chile, keeping ecosystems intact. The story is brought to life in Wild Life, released in 2023 by National Geographic Documentary Films.

Michael A. Keller, Library Director and Associate Provost of Ida M. Green University, said, "This film is inspiring, moving, and exciting, and provides a modern context for the academic community as we prepare to open the archives of the Tompkins Conservation Organization for research. I anticipate that Stanford will continue to be actively involved in these organizations and fulfill their missions, and I hope that students at all levels will have the opportunity to participate in their programs, both on campus and in the field. We are very grateful to Kris Tompkins for keeping the archives at Stanford University so that well-meaning scholars and eco-environmentalists can put them to good use. "

"Although our work takes place in a corner of South America, our starting point began in the San Francisco Bay Area, where Doug Tompkins built a successful business career and embarked on a great adventure that became the foundation of our second action," said Kris Tompkins. In the second act, I worked with Doug to "pay rent to the planet" by protecting and rewilding. As the alma mater of many members of the McDivitts family, Stanford has had a profound impact on my tutoring and values. Therefore, it is fitting that the archives of Tompkins, Doug, and myself are housed at Stanford, which we hope will inspire outstanding students from all fields to work towards a more natural, equitable, and beautiful planet. "

The Tompkins Nature Conservation Archives include three unique collections. First, the Douglas R. Tompkins Collection chronicles the life of Douglas R. Tompkins (1943-2015), co-founder of The North Face and Esprit, and milestones in the life cycle of several nonprofits that later became the Tompkins Nature Conservation Organization. The collection includes correspondence and conversations with individuals who have had a profound impact on his evolution from capitalist entrepreneurs to activists and philanthropists. It also includes published and unpublished multimedia materials created or collected by Doug Tompkins that have attracted much academic attention. The information relates to his interest in and projects related to agroecology and organic farming, mountaineering and whitewater kayaking, as well as the Foundation's mission of the Foundation for Deep Ecology, which is that all life on Earth has intrinsic value, whether or not it is compatible with human purposes.

The Kristine McDivitt Tompkins Collection chronicles the career of his namesake, former CEO of Patagonia Inc. and current president and co-founder of the Tompkins Nature Conservancy. Kris Tompkins married Doug Tompkins in 1994. Since Doug Tompkins died in a kayaking accident in 2015, Kris Tompkins has continued the duo's conservation cause. The unique material in this collection documents her founding of the Conservacion Patagonia. The organization focuses on protecting the lands of the Chilean and Argentine Patagonia regions. Kris Tompkins is the first environmentalist to receive the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy and has been named a patron of the United Nations Protected Area Environment Program, most recently the Ken Burns American Heritage Prize.

The Tompkins Collection includes books, grants, legal documents, articles, interviews, photographs, films, and other materials. In the earliest documents and publications, the founding philosophy, establishment and governance of the organization are documented, which derive from its predecessor organization and its main areas of focus are clarified, namely the creation of land and marine parks. With this gift, Stanford researchers will have the opportunity to study all aspects of a diverse, sustainable, and effective environmental action plan.

Elizabeth A. Hadly, Paul S. and Billie Achilles Professor of Environmental Biology in the College of Humanities and Sciences, said, "There are few places on a global scale that have suffered as much damage as Patagonia. During my time in Patagonia, the Tompkins also conducted research there, unearthing and describing changes in flora and fauna over the past 10,000 years, trying to unravel the mystery of why biodiversity is scarcer in temperate South America than in the same latitude in North America, and exploring the genetic bottleneck of a small social mammal (tuco-tuco), which culminated in the discovery of a prehistoric Andean volcanic eruption. "

Research at Stanford University for the region is ongoing. For example, Robert Dunbar, the W.M. Keck Professor of Earth Sciences at Stanford University's Dürr School of Sustainable Development, who has been documenting climate change in lake sediments in Patagonia for years, led a group of Stanford undergraduates to Patagonia last summer to teach a course designed to balance field practice with community exploration.

Stephan A. Graham, Welton Joseph and Maud L'Anphere Crook Professor and Dean Emeritus of the School of Earth, Energy and Environmental Sciences at Stanford University's Dürr School of Sustainable Development, said, "Over the past 25 years, my graduate students and I have been doing field research in the southernmost part of Patagonia, and my team alone has produced 12 PhDs. As a result, we are keenly aware of its profound charm and ecological significance. Stanford Dürle College is committed to creating a future where people and nature coexist in harmony through excellence in research, education, innovation, and service. Its academic departments cover a wide range of topics, from geology to marine systems to ecosystems and human-ecosystem interactions. Therefore, the goals of the Stanford Dürr Institute for Sustainability are closely linked to the excellence of the Tompkins Nature Conservation Organization. "

An event celebrating the donation of the Tompkins Nature Conservancy and the Tompkins Family Archives is scheduled for April 22, 2024, at 4:30 p.m. on Earth Day in the Traitel Building on the Stanford campus. The event is free to attend and registration is required. The collection will not be accessible for the time being while the archives are being processed, please contact Alma Parada, Librarian of Earth and Environmental Sciences, for availability and scholarly use.

Media Contact: Stanford University Library: Sonia Lee, Tompkins Nature Conservancy: Carolyn McCarthy,