Oral history interview with Anna Bailey conducted by Claytee White on March 03, 1997 for the Women's Research Institute of Nevada (WRIN) Las Vegas Women Oral History Project. Bailey opens her interview by describing her early life, family, and dance training. She discusses moving to Los Angeles, California at age fifteen, her first dancing gigs, and touring in London, England. She also talks about her experiences as an African American dancer including issues with segregation while touring in the southern United States. Bailey then discusses her life in Las Vegas, Nevada in the 1950s, and working as a dancer at the Moulin Rouge. She describes the club, the other dancers that performed there, and how the African American community felt when the club closed. Bailey then discusses how her husband and the entertainers Josephine Baker and Frank Sinatra helped integrate Las Vegas. She ends her interview by describing the last hotel she danced at, the Flamingo, where she performed in an integrated dance line.
Archival Collection
The Spencer and Georgia Hanna Butterfield Photograph Collection (approximately 1900-1978) consists of black-and-white photographic prints and negatives of the Hanna and Butterfield families. It also contains images of early and prominent residents of Las Vegas, Nevada such as James Cashman Sr., Las Vegas Chamber of Congress members, Union Pacific Railroad president George Ashby, and many other notable persons from early Las Vegas. The collection also includes photographs taken in Elko County, Nevada, the Hoover Dam, and other Las Vegas area images.
Archival Collection
The Bogie's Niteclub Revue Collection (1969-1990) consists of photographs, flyers, and newspapers advertising Bogie's Niteclub, which ran the female impersonation (now known as drag) revue "Frivolous Follies" in Las Vegas, Nevada. Images include performers on stage, portraits, and publictiy photographs of members of "Frivolous Follies," which was renamed "Vive les Boys" in 1984. Issues of Las Vegas Mirror and Vegas magazine are also included, and contain advertisements for Bogie's Niteclub drag shows and male strip shows. Also included in the collection is a single photograph of Stewart Randall Armstrong, who was born and raised in Las Vegas and passed away from AIDS in 1994. The collection was donated in his honor. This collection also contains digital scans of the photographs and some ephemera.
Archival Collection
The Brian Gross Professional Papers (approximately 2000-2021) documents Brian Gross's career working in public relations for the adult entertainment industry. Materials in this collection includes client files, press clippings, magazines and newspapers featuring clients including Joanna Angel, Sasha Gray, and many others. The collection also contains some of marketing and financial records for BSG PR, Gross's public relations company. Also included are DVDs of adult films, BSG PR memorabilia, and some personal correspondence to Brian Gross.
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
The Myram Borders Papers (1965-1998) contain articles written by Borders, newspaper clippings, court transcripts, photographs, slides, agendas, meeting minutes, and a copy of the joint operating agreement between the Las Vegas Review Journal and the Las Vegas Sun. Also included are media kits for the Desert Inn Hotel and Casino and the Stealth Fighter Public Debut, an annual report to Sheriff John Moran concerning organized crime, and a copy of the MGM fire litigation.
Archival Collection
The Burt and Wilma Bass photographs and programs (approximately 1976-2000) mainly document the Bass’ involvement in the Jewish community of Las Vegas, Nevada, as well as their personal and professional lives. Materials are entirely digital.
Archival Collection
The Joe Williams Music Scores date from 1940 to 1991 and comprise the handwritten musical scores of American jazz musician Joe Williams, born Joseph Goreed. Many of the musical scores are Williams' original arrangements.
Archival Collection
The Leon Rockwell Papers (1829-1986), consist of materials that document Leon Rockwell's life in Las Vegas, Nevada from 1906 until his death in 1968. Included are diaries, correspondence, photographs, postcards, Las Vegas community event programs, ledger sheets, business cards, and scrapbooks. There are a number of books, information on organizations and businesses that Rockwell owned, real estate documents, and early records of the Las Vegas Volunteer Fire Department, of which Rockwell was an original member.
Archival Collection
The J. T. McWilliams Photograph Collection contains photographs and postcards from Nevada and Southern California from approximately 1900 to 1970. The materials include postcards depicting Las Vegas, Nevada casinos such as El Rancho Vegas and the Golden Nugget Gambling Hall. The materials also include postcards depicting towns and scenes in Nevada such as Carson City, Rhyolite, Red Rock Canyon, and covered wagons traveling to Las Vegas. Lastly, the materials contain several photographs of the McWilliams family, possibly while they were living in what is now Las Vegas, Nevada.
Archival Collection
