Oral history interview with James A. (Jimmy Gay) Gay III conducted by Joyce M. Wright in 1973 for the Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas. In this interview, Gay recalls details about his education in Arkansas and his training in mortuary science in Chicago, Illinois and discusses the nine-year delay in obtaining his license to practice as a mortician in Nevada because of racial discrimination. He recounts his move to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1946, his experiences as a recreation director and as a personnel and communications director for the hotel industry, work that he took while waiting for his licensure to practice. He also talks about his career as a mortician with Palm Mortuary in Las Vegas, the atomic testing of the 1950s and 1960s, and his long involvement with the NAACP and the Freedom Fund. He closes by reciting two poems that have inspired him and express his philosophy.
Archival Collection
The Jon E. Cobain Papers (1963-2009) contains material representing Cobain's experience as the first official graduate of Nevada Southern University (later University of Nevada, Las Vegas) in 1964. Materials include photographs of Cobain and his family, a scrapbook from his 1964 graduation day, newsletters, a copy of Beau's Bits Handbook, personal correspondence, and his diploma. This collection is comprised exclusively of digital surrogates.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Dorothy and Don Tomlin conducted by Joyce Marshall on April 3, 2002 for the UNLV University Libraries Oral History Collection. Don Tomlin relates his early life in Los Angeles, California, military service during World War II, returning to California and working as a bartender. He then talks about moving to Alaska and meeting Dorothy, who was there as choreographer and manager for her professional dance troupe. The couple then talk at length about moving to Las Vegas, Nevada. Dorothy describes the long hours involved in running her dancers for the El Rancho Vegas Hotel showroom. Both talk about the hotel's owner Beldon Katleman and Don describes opening a men's clothing store near the Moulin Rouge Hotel, catering to both the Westside community and the professional bands that played at the hotels. Finally, the couple describe retiring to travel, buying a resort hotel in California and selling it after repeated flooding, returning to Las Vegas and settling down to help their son run his photography business.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview With Carolyn Sparks conducted by Claytee D. White on June 7, 2022 for the Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project. In this interview, Sparks describes her childhood growing up in Overton, Nevada where her father worked as a mining engineer. Later the family moved to Las Vegas, Nevada where her father invested in the El Cortez and Showboat hotels. Sparks received a degree from the University of California, Berkeley before returning to Las Vegas to work at an insurance company, where she met her husband, Kenneth. Sparks discusses their shared adventure insuring many of the businesses on the Las Vegas Strip while simultaneously entering the world of philanthropy. Sparks became area Chairperson of the American Cancer Society, a fundraiser for Junior Mesquite Club, and founded the Nevada Children's Center. Sparks served on the Nevada Board of Regents from 1984 to 1996, on the Board of Directors of the Showboat Hotel & Casino, and as president of the family's International Insurance Services, Ltd.
Archival Collection
The McGriff and DeVinney Family Papers (approximately 1900-1959) contain papers and photographs documenting Francis De Vinney and his wife, Della, who lived in Las Vegas, Nevada in the early- to mid- 20th century. The collection also includes documentation about Della's father, Edwin Guy "E. G." McGriff, an early Las Vegas resident. Materials include photographic prints and albums, business and personal correspondence, and 16mm film.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Emily Ku conducted by Jerwin Tiu, Cecilia Winchell, and Stefani Evans on December 16, 2022 for Reflections: the Las Vegas Asian American and Pacific Islander Oral History Project. In this interview, Ku decribes growing up in a Mandarin-speaking household and celebrating traditional Chinese holidays. Ku recalls her education at the University of California, Berkeley, where she studied political economy of industrial societies and became involved with the United States Department of Commerce during an internship. She recounts moving around several times before settling down in Las Vegas, Nevada, doing remote work as a market analyst before ending up working on the Commission for Minority Affairs. She talks about her experiences there, as well as her current position with the City of Las Vegas as a management analyst. Ku also talks about some of her community involvement, thoughts on personal identity, her favorite foods, and what she hopes to see from the AAPI community in the coming years.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Pat Feaster conducted by Claytee D. White on July 1, 1996 for the African Americans in Las Vegas: a Collaborative Oral History Project. In this interview, Feaster relates how her mother made the decision to leave Fordyce, Arkansas for better economic opportunity and moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1942. She describes travelling across the country, living in a one-room structure in the Westside of Las Vegas, and attending the Westside School. She discusses her mother's employment at the Red Rooster Restaurant and then at the Algiers Hotel. She talks at length about her own educational journey after leaving school at fifteen, then returning for her GED and later, a college degree after the birth of her fifth child. She discusses how the decision to improve her education helped her develop a twenty-six year career at the Clark County Health District. She also discusses the Fordyce Club and many important personalities in Las Vegas' Black community.
Archival Collection
Oral history presentation by George Kielak to an unidentified group recorded on February 1, 2007. In his talk, Kielak explains that he was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1929 and was nine years old when Germany occupied the country. He describes what it was like living under the German occupation forces and comments that of all the occupied countries during World War II, Poland suffered the most severe restrictions and punishments. He then outlines the progress of the war from 1939 to 1944, a period in which he joined the Polish resistance movement. He explains that after the resistance fighters rose up against the Germans in 1944 Russia would not help, leading to the collapse of the movement, his capture by the German forces, and his seven month internment in a POW camp. He describes immigrating to England at the end of the war because Poland became part of the Soviet Union. After serving in the British Army, he immigrated to the United States in 1950. At the end of the presentation he shows maps and photographs and answers questions from the audience.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Ruby Gordon conducted by Claytee D. White on October 29, 2004 for the African Americans in Las Vegas: a Collaborative Oral History Project. In this interview, Gordon talks about her birth and early upbringing in Pine Bluff, Arkansas and Las Vegas, Nevada, where her parents moved when she was seven years old. She discusses her parent's decision to move for better opportunities and the kind of work they did, then speaks extensively about her education through high school, her early marriage, and raising six children. She also talks about the difficulties that mothers faced while trying to work and raise children, especially those with health issues. Later she talks about her involvement with the Elks fraternal organization and explains that there were different lodges for whites and Blacks, based primarily on location, the lodges regularly interacted and worked together on civic and charity programs. Finally, she expands on her own work history in early childhood education, working for the state, and for Child Haven.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Erica Mosca conducted by Cecilia Winchell, Stefani Evans, and Jerwin Tiu on February 3, 2023 for the Reflections: the Las Vegas Asian American and Pacific Islander Oral History Project. In this interview, Mosca reflects on her life journey from a low-income Asian American to a current serving Nevada State Assemblywoman. She recalls that most of her childhood was in Palm Springs, California where she enjoyed a diverse community of students within her education system. It was not until she moved to Navato, California where she first experienced the economic and resource gap between economically diverse areas. Mosca went on to be involved in a college readiness program and received a scholarship to Boston University. After college, Mosca went on to work for Teach for America where she was stationed on the east side of Las Vegas at Goldfarb Elementary School where she grew a passion for leadership. She eventually returned to school and graduated from Harvard University, returning to Las Vegas to start her nonprofit "Leaders in Training." Mosca hopes to inspire change in her communities by enacting legislation and initiatives targeted towards the communities she was and continutes to be a part of.
Archival Collection
