Destry Jarvis & Jon Jarvis Oral History Interview, 2026

Scope and content:

Daniel Sunshine conducted this interview with brothers Thomas Destry Jarvis (W&M Class of 1969) and Jonathan B. Jarvis (W&M Class of 1975), focusing on their extensive careers in conservation and their leadership within the National Park Service. They reflected on the importance of William & Mary biology professors Mitchell Byrd, Stewart Ware, Charlotte Mangum, and Garrett Brooks as mentors in the emergent field of environmental science. Destry Jarvis recalled his military service in Vietnam, his experience in conservation advocacy and lobbying, and his tenure as Assistant Director of the National Park Service under President Bill Clinton. Jonathan Jarvis described his lifelong career with the NPS, serving in wilderness parks across the western United States and Alaska, before becoming Director of the National Park Service under Barack Obama.

Together, the brothers discussed the increasing politicization of the NPS, challenges posed by resistance to climate science and inclusive historical interpretation, and tensions among the competing missions of the Department of Interior. They concluded that the National Park Service should be spun out as an independent agency, modeled after the Smithsonian, an argument advanced in their book National Parks Forever: Fifty Years of Fighting and a Case for Independence (2022).

Access and use

Location of collection:
College of William and Mary
Special Collections Research Center
Earl Gregg Swem Library
College of William and Mary
400 Landrum Drive
PO 8795
Williamsburg, VA 23187-8795
Contact for questions and access:
Phone: (757) 221-3090
Fax: (757) 221-5440
Parent restrictions:
Collection is open to all researchers. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, such as the Virginia Public Records Act (Code of Virginia. § 42.1-76-91); and the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (Code of Virginia § 2.2-3705.5). Confidential material may include, but is not limited to, educational, medical, and personnel records. If sensitive material is found in this collection, please contact a staff member immediately. The disclosure of personally identifiable information pertaining to a living individual may have legal consequences for which the College of William and Mary assumes no responsibility.
Parent terms of access:
Before publishing quotations or excerpts from any materials, permission must be obtained from the Curator of Manuscripts and Rare Books, and the holder of the copyright, if not Swem Library.

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