The Dennis McBride LGBTQ Poster and Sign Collection (1977-2018) contains posters and signs created by the Las Vegas, Nevada Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer/Questioning (LGBTQ) community, collected by historian Dennis McBride. These handmade and commercially printed signs cover events of particular interest to the Las Vegas, Nevada LGBTQ community, including social events, entertainment venues, political rallies, and Gay Pride events.
The Dennis McBride LGBTQ Poster and Sign Collection (1977-2018) consists of posters and signs created by the Las Vegas, Nevada Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer/Questioning (LGBTQ) community, collected by Dennis McBride. The material provides insight into LGBTQ political activism and community activities in Las Vegas, Nevada. Signs are both handmade and commercially printed, with the commercially printed signs and posters including advertisements for events held at LGBTQ nightclubs and bars as well as Gay Pride parades, movie screenings, theatrical performances, charity events, AIDS outreach, and political events. The handmade signs deal with topics relating to marriage equality and AIDS awareness for use at parades and protest events.
Collection is open for research.
This material is made available to facilitate private study, scholarship, or research. The donor, Dennis McBride, transferred all right, title and interest they had in the Dennis McBride Collection of LGBTQ+ Posters and Signs (MS-00842) to UNLV. However, some material may be protected by copyright, trademark, privacy, publicity rights, or other interests not owned by UNLV. Users are responsible for determining whether permissions are necessary from rights owners for any intended use and for obtaining all required permissions. Acknowledgement of the UNLV University Libraries is requested. For more information, please see the UNLV Special Collections policies on reproductions and use or contact us at special.collections@unlv.edu.
Materials remain in original order.
Dennis McBride grew up in Boulder City, Nevada, and received both his BA and MA in history from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). He authored several histories of Boulder City, Nevada and Hoover Dam. Beginning in the 1970s, McBride started chronicling the history of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer/Questioning (LGBTQ) community in Las Vegas, Nevada, with his work culminating in
Source:
"Preservation Spotlight: Dennis McBride," Classic Las Vegas. May 20, 2014. https://classiclasvegas.com/clv-history-blog/2014/5/20/preservation-spotlight-dennis-mcbride.
Dennis McBride LGBTQ Poster and Sign Collection, 1977-2018. MS-00842. Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.
Materials were donated in 2011, 2014, 2017, and 2019 by Dennis McBride; accession numbers 2011-17, 2017-164, 2019-029, and 2022-006.
In 2017, a rough inventory of the accession was created by Maggie Bukowski. To prepare the inventory, the described materials were reviewed to create a contents list, estimate dates, identify material types, and a finding aid was created in ArchivesSpace. In 2019, as part of an archival backlog elimination project, Melise Leech rehoused the materials and revised the collection description in ArchivesSpace to bring it into compliance with current professional standards. In 2019, Tammi Kim rehoused additional materials and updated the finding aid. In 2023, Tammi Kim rehoused additional materials and used an inventory created by the donor to update the finding aid.