Historical consultant Kent Seavey appointed administrator of Pat Hathaway's estate.

The future of an 80,000-plus photo collection that documents local history that was archived by the late Pat Hathaway may have become a little less murky.

Hathaway, a well known figure in local history circles, died in January without leaving a will. Hathaway wasn't married and so far as the courts knew, didn't have any immediate family or descendants, save for a half-brother in France.

Kent Seavey, a historical consultant and friend of Hathaway's, petitioned to become the administrator of his estate several weeks after his death. He was temporarily granted administrative powers. Seavey's petition was temporarily challenged by a competing petition from a distant niece, but that petition was soon rescinded.

That left Seavey as the lone entity seeking the role, and in a hearing at Monterey County Superior Court on June 16, Seavey officially became the administrator of Hathaway's estate.

However, Seavey's attorney Joseph Ferry adds that heirs to Hathaway's estate have yet to be determined. 

As for plans for the photo collection, Ferry says he and Seavey are in talks with UC Berkeley's Bancroft Library. Hathaway had started the process of housing the photo archive, known as California Views, at the library back in February 2019. "Will it be a donation? Will it be a sale? We don't know," Ferry says. They also mean to measure the interest of CSU Monterey Bay, which would keep the archive more local. 

"We just don't want it to be in a box, in a basement somewhere," Ferry says. Until the heirs are to be determined, Ferry says Seavey will be "safegaurding the collection." Ultimately, it will be up to the court and the heirs to decide where the archive will be rehoused. A hearing on the final distribution is scheduled for Aug. 10.