Celesta Lowe Papers (1943-1995) consist of clippings, published writings ("Echoes from the Archives" and "Southwestern Bookshelf" columns), correspondence, and photographs related to Southern Nevada
history. Also included are National League of American Pen Women and Pen Hens material.
Celesta Lowe Papers (1943-1995) include copies of Lowe's column "Echoes from the Archives" from 1967 to 1974. The years 1967, 1968 and 1969 are complete while the subsequent years are incomplete. Copies of "Southwestern Bookshelf" in 1980 and 1981 are included and complete. There is correspondence and newsletters from the Pen-Hens from 1958 to 1976, and from the National League of Pen Women from 1976 through 1995, including a copy of the bylaws. One folder contains copies of newspaper articles pertaining to various family members and civic events.
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 website for more information about reproductions and permissions to publish.
Papers remain in original order.
Writer and long time Las Vegas, Nevada resident Celesta Lowe grew up in Goodsprings in the Moapa Valley, Nevada before the family moved to El Monte, California, where she attended high school and business college before returning to Las Vegas area. The first Helldorado celebration in 1935 was the site of her marriage to Deke Lowe. As a mother of four children, she returned to school in 1955 to take home economic classes at Nevada Southern University (NSU), now University of Nevada, Las Vegas UNLV). She became the first secretary to James Dickinson in the NSU library and took charge of the Special Collections Department in 1967. Lowe played a large part in developing the Special Collections Division of the library.
A prolific writer, she wrote the column "Echoes from the Archives" in the Nevadan section of the Las Vegas Review Journal, and followed that with a column entitled "Southwestern Bookshelf." She was an active member of the National League of Pen Women beginning in 1958, and also served as book review editor for Maverick Publications. Celesta Lowe died at age 87 on December 9, 2004 in Las Vegas.
Celesta Lowe Papers, 1943-1995. MS-00360. Special Collections, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.
Materials were donated in 1995 by Celesta Lowe; accession number 1995-048.
Material was processed in 1996 by Joyce Marshall. In 2017 Joyce Moore revised and enhanced the collection description to bring it into compliance with current professional standards.
Administrative Information
Three of the photographs in this acquisition were removed from the collection and placed in Celesta Lowe Photographs, PH-0059. Special Collections, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada.