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A few hours at the Monterey County Historical Society feels like the closest thing there is to a time machine.
Good morning.
David Schmalz here. When I first read Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1880 essay “The Old Pacific Capital” about a decade ago, I was enthralled: Here was a legendary writer who created a literary time capsule of the place as it existed in 1879. It was, and remains, a gift to everyone who takes the time to read it.
While helping put together the photo layout for the first half of the essay—titled “The Woods and the Pacific,” it makes up the cover story in this week’s print edition of the Weekly—I was helped by several people: Stuart Thornton from California State Parks, Brian Edwards and Andres Garza from the city of Monterey, and James Perry from the Monterey County Historical Society. In late 2021, the Monterey County Historical Society was gifted the treasure of the Pat Hathaway collection, which contains countless historical photos of the Central Coast from the late 1800s and into the 1900s. (Hathaway himself was a photographer, and over the years collected historical photos from the area and amassed a trove; he passed away unexpectedly in 2021.)
On a recent Saturday at a Historical Society open house event in Salinas, Perry took the time to delve into that collection and pulled out folders of contemporaneous photos that he thought would be pertinent to the essay. Paging through those folders with a friend over the course of a few hours felt like the closest thing there is to a time machine, and I could have spent days doing it if either Perry or I had the time.
I look forward to when the Weekly publishes the second part of the essay later this year—the exact date of that is to be determined, so keep an eye out. Perry has already told me that he’s got some great photos lined up, and I can’t wait to see them, and I have no doubt you’ll love seeing them too.
One other thing: in April, the Weekly published an edited collection of letters that William H. Brewer, a scientist with the California Geological Survey, wrote in 1861 during his time in Monterey County. A reader recently asked when the next installment of those letters is coming, and it looks like that will be coming in August. I look forward to sharing that with you too.
For now, I hope you enjoy the first half of Stevenson’s essay and the amazing historical photos that help illustrate it—it will be time well spent.
-David Schmalz, staff writer, david@mcweekly.com
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