The Lorenzo Romans Papers (1875-1965) are comprised of photographs, newspaper clippings, a family photograph album, a diary, a diploma, and related ephemera. The materials were owned by Lorenzo Romans, a California real estate developer who moved to Las Vegas late in life after a short visit to Helen Stewart's Las Vegas Rancho in 1894.
The Lorenzo Romans Papers (1875-1965), consist of a Victorian-era photograph album of family photos, a diary with inserted photographs, a birthday date book, photographs taken in Los Angeles, California from the 1900s to the 1940s, a diploma from the Los Angeles Business College, postcards, greeting cards, and newspaper clippings, including a biographical sketch written by Frances Lee Cahlan that describes Romans' first visit to the Las Vegas valley in 1894.
While the majority of the collection is unrelated to Nevada it does provide insight into the daily life of the era, and the album of nineteenth-century photographs and early-twentieth century prints offer research and teaching opportunities.
Collection is open for research.
Materials in this collection may be protected by copyrights and other rights. See Reproductions and Use on the UNLV Special Collections and Archives website for more information about reproductions and permissions to publish.
Materials remain in original order.
Lorenzo Romans (1875-1965) was born in Iowa. His family moved to Los Angeles, California when he was very young and he spent the majority of his life in that city, working primarily in real estate. In 1894, Romans was hired to escort a client to the Las Vegas valley to purchase land; while in the valley, he stayed as a guest of Helen Stewart at the Las Vegas Rancho. After his retirement, Romans moved permanently to Las Vegas in 1950. He died in 1965 and was buried in Glendale, California.
Source: Jones, Florence Lee. “State Land Sale of 1894 No Swindle.” Las Vegas Review-Journal (Las Vegas, NV), Jun. 20, 1963.
Lorenzo Romans Papers, 1875-1965. MS-00173. Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.
Materials were donated in 1975 by Florence Lee Cahlan; accession numbers 1975-116-2 and T-90.
In 2017, as part of an archival backlog elimination project, Melise Leech rehoused the materials, wrote the finding aid, and entered the data into ArchivesSpace.