Monterey County Historical Society is awarded over 80,000 historic photos and hundreds of thousands of digital images, maps and more from the Pat Hathaway Collection

 
On  December 24th, the court agreed with conservator Kent Seavey’s proposal to gift the entire collection to the Monterey County Historical Society.  James Perry, executive director of the Monterey County Historical Society, said the Hathaway collection of photographs, maps and images going back to the 1840's, is “way too important to stay locked up in a vault.”  James adds, "It will take several months to organize the collection for the public to access it but we look forward to sharing this historic treasure with our local community and beyond. All I truly hoped for was that Mr. Hathaway's collection would remain in Monterey County but still be accessible to visitors. I am very grateful that the Monterey County Historical Society had the appropriate facilities to accept this gift with a secure temperature-controlled safe environment."

The past, present and future of Monterey County is as fascinating as the collections stewarded by the Monterey County Historical Society (MCHS). James Perry, Director of MCHS will take us upon a journey spanning over eight decades chronicling community efforts towards the collection and preservation of our regional history. James will review the history of MCHS, the acquisition of the historic Jose Eusebio Boronda Adobe, the recent gift of the Pat Hathaway Collection, present project development initiatives and future build-out plans of the Boronda Adobe History Center. In addition, James will review the critical need for historical organizations in our region to come together as partners in order to assure that the past continues to be preserved for future generations.

 

Free refreshments including authentic Sicilian cookies from an historic recipe from Carmel Bakery will be available after the lecture. 

RSVPs are appreciated by emailing Wendy Brickman at [email protected] or calling 831-633-4444.

 

The Monterey County Historical Society was founded in December 1933. According to founding historical society documents, it was initially a small core of aging civic leaders who based their efforts to establish a historical society upon a deep concern for the preservation of a rapidly disappearing history of what they knew in those days as “Old Monterey County." Our image collection contains over 100,000 images and date from 1870 through the present documenting the development of a region that has been inhabited for 10,000 years. For more information, go to www.mchsmuseum.com. 

About James Perry

James Perry has a M.A. in Museum Studies with an emphasis on Collections Management & Public History. He has served as Curator of Collections & Exhibits for the Valdez Museum & Historical Archive in Valdez, Alaska as well as the Museum of the Aleutians in Dutch Harbor, Alaska. Locally, he has served as consultant to various organizations for special project initiatives, including the City of Carmel-by-the-Sea, the Royal Presidio Chapel and Missions Carmel, San Juan Bautista, Soledad, and San Antonio de Padua. He has served the Monterey County Historical Society in various capacities since 1990, and is currently the Executive Director.