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Donna Silva oral history interview
Oral history interview with Donna Silva conducted by Claytee D. White on February 6, 2023 for the Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project. In this interview, Silva recalls her childhood living in Los Angeles, California; Las Vegas, Nevada; Valdosta, Georgia; and Japan. When her family settled in Las Vegas, her family joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, but Silva later left the organization as a teenager. Throughout the interview, Silva recalls memories of the Rolling Stones, Steve Wynn, Elvis, and doing lighting work throughout the city as the first female to join the stagehand's union. Silva's work in the hotel/casino industry provides insight in work on the casino floor and behind the curtains of entertainment venues. She worked as a cocktail waitress, cigarette girl, and then backstage as a member of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. Her passion later turned to working with the Rape Crisis Center, where Silva has acquired training that allows her to go to hospitals to assist patients.
Archival Collection
Casiano Corpus Jr. oral history interview: transcript
Oral history interview with Casiano Corpus Jr. conducted by Cecilia Winchell and Stefani Evans on February 14, 2023 for the Reflections: the Las Vegas Asian American and Pacific Islander Oral History Project. In this interview, Corpus Jr. details a difficult childhood in the Philippines, where society is highly socioeconomically stratified. He recalls his parents working a number of jobs to support their large family, and as soon as he finished his primary schooling, he also started working in construction. When his father was finally petitioned by his uncle to move to the United States, Corpus was at first reluctant to go, since he had a familiar life in the Philippines, but has come to love the United States and the life he created for himself. Immediately after moving to the United States, their family landed in Las Vegas, Nevada, and Corpus began working a number of jobs. He started out as a busboy at a Chinese restaurant before deciding that he wanted to work in a casino and moved to Union Plaza. His current job is as a porter at Palace Station, where he has been for the past 31 years. He has also been working to unionize Palace Station and Station casinos with the Culinary Union for the past twelve years. He talks about the hunger strike he organized, why he organizes with no fear, and what he hopes to see out of his efforts throughout the interview.
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"Let's Go A-Go-Go" act performing on the Strip and touring Caesars Palace under construction: video
Static view of the Hacienda Horse and Rider sign; cuts to the "Let's Go A-Go-Go" performers talking and then viewing the Las Vegas Strip from a balcony at The Dunes. Behind the performers, parts of the Strip can be seen including The Sands, The Sahara, Guardian Angel Cathedral, The Desert Inn, and downtown in the distance. Other sequences show the Flamingo and the Dunes sign from the elevated viewpoint. Cuts to Caesars Palace construction site where owner Jay Sarno leads a tour through the property; Sarno walks the group through the pool area where construction laborers work on the just poured swimming pool. Footage then cuts to a dressing room scenes as women apply makeup followed by clips from a performance in various outfits. Footage then cuts to the Hacienda pool where the act meets with Hacienda Casino owner Judy Bailey; group is filmed near the Thunderbird Casino driving away in a Corvette. Footage also shows The Riviera marquee featuring an ad for Betty Grable starring in Hello Dolly with smaller acts touted including Shecky Greene, Tony Sandler, and Ralph Young. Original media 16mm, b/w, aspect ratio 4 x 3, frame size 2048 x 1556. From The Production Company Audiovisual Collection (MS-00930) -- Digitized audiovisual material file.
Moving Image
Interview with Henry Eloy Peluaga, April 22, 2005
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James, Tony, and Frederick Smith oral history interview
Oral history interview with James, Tony, and Frederick Smith conducted by Claytee D. White on February 25, 2014 for the African Americans in Las Vegas: a Collaborative Oral History Project. In this interview, James discusses his family background, military career, and marriage, and the sons add details about their mother's career at the Tropicana Hotel and Casino. All three talk about the role of churches in the Westside, Las Vegas, Nevada, and James recalls what the Westside was like in the 1960s and 1970s. He mentions a midnight curfew on the Strip for black residents, entertainment and business venues in the Westside, the role of the Culinary Union in black residents' economic opportunities, and the response of casino-hotel management to federal legislation designed to combat racism. The sons then discuss their educations and careers, about gang activities in Las Vegas, and changes in economic opportunities for young people.
Archival Collection
Transcript of interview with Jack W. Zunino by Stefani Evans and Claytee White, August 30, 2016
Landscape architect Jack W. Zunino is a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) and president of the Society's local chapter. He has designed many of Southern Nevada's iconic landscapes: the Rio Hotel, the M Resort, the Desert Demonstration Gardens, the gardens at Ethel M. Chocolates, the Cactus Avenue overpass, and most notably, the Springs Preserve. He's also a third-generation Nevadan from Elko, grandson of Italian immigrants who met and married in the Silver State and raised their large family in that Nevada mining town. The product of Elko schools, he graduated from the University of Utah in psychology and Utah State University in landscape architecture while earning his tuition as a road construction laborer. In this interview, Zunino tells of his employment with G.C. Wallace Engineering and JMA architects before founding his own landscape architecture firm in 1989. He speaks to the importance of planners and landscape architects on Southern Nevada's conser
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Biographical essay by Samuel Newman, 2014
Samuel Newman describes his experience during the Holocaust and being separated from his siblings at different orphanages. He was in Kyrgyzstan from 1943 to 1946, and at an orphanage in Poland until 1951. Newman trained in graphic arts and spent some time in the military in Israel. He came to the United States in 1968.
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Interview with Gary Hallmark, June 24, 2005
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Economic Opportunity Board of Clark County (Nev.): memos, agendas, and meeting minutes
From the Clark County Economic Opportunity Board Records -- Series I. Administrative. This folder contains memos, agendas and minutes from meetings of the Clark County Economic Opportunity Board from January 1969 through June 1969.
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