The Stanley Thompson Society was founded in 1998 with a number of core objectives, including:
Create of a world class archive.
- The archive is housed at the McLaughlin Library, University of Guelph and is open to the public.
- It was originally funded by the Society as a $30,000 endowment.
- The archive contains Thompson’s papers, plans, photographs and numerous items of interest and is regularly used for research by scholars and custodians of Thompson’s courses.
- The Society hopes to digitalize the archives to further ease accessibility.
- The archives can be viewed on this link for the University of Guelph.
- The Society continues to conduct research on Thompson’s work to ensure the information is being refreshed as frequently as possible.
Build Stanley Thompson’s legacy.
- The more Thompson is appreciated, the more his courses are appreciated.
- In 1980, Thompson was inducted into the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame. Since 1998, the Society has lobbied on his behalf. In 2004, Thompson was named a Person of National Historic Significance by the Canadian government. In 2015, he was inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame.
- Society members may also enjoy the opportunity to learn more about Thompson through guest speakers and the opportunity to play some of his golf courses through the Thompson Passport Program.
Catalogue and verify Thompson’s courses.
- In 2012, the Society funded the University of Guelph’s Graduate School of Landscape Architecture to complete a Provenance Study to verify the authenticity of Thompson courses.
Create scholarship opportunities.
- The Society is a large contributor to the Stanley Thompson Foundation. The Foundation was established in 2012 as a registered charity. The first undertaking was establishing The Thompson Graduate Studies Scholarship at the University of Guelph. The annual scholarship is awarded to a student in the Master of Landscape Architecture program who has submitted a thesis outline for the study of golf course design / maintenance. The Society hopes to expand its funding of golf related education in the future.
