Abstract
The Robert B. Griffith Photograph Collection (approximately 1950-1970) contains black-and-white and color photographic prints, negatives, and slides of Las Vegas, Nevada including Fremont Street, Helldorado parades, and hotel and casino properties along the Strip including the Sahara Hotel and Casino, the Flamingo Las Vegas, the El Rancho, the Thunderbird Hotel and Casino, and the Hotel Last Frontier. Also included are photographs of Lake Mead Recreation Area and tunnel drilling within and near the Las Vegas Valley, Nevada. Other Nevada locations outside of Las Vegas include Reno, Virginia City, and Crystal Bay, Nevada.
Finding Aid PDF
Date
Extent
Related People/Corporations
Scope and Contents Note
The Robert B. Griffith Photograph Collection (approximately 1950-1970) contains black-and-white and color photographic prints, negatives, and slides of Las Vegas, Nevada including Fremont Street, Helldorado parades, and hotel and casino properties along the Strip including the Sahara Hotel and Casino, the Flamingo Las Vegas, the El Rancho Vegas, the Thunderbird Hotel and Casino, and the Hotel Last Frontier.
Helldorado parade photographs feature people marching and parade floats representing Las Vegas hotel and casino properties, organizations, and local businesses. Photographs of Fremont Street and the Strip include images of signage and stage performances. Also included are photographs of Lake Mead Recreation Area and tunnel drilling within and near the Las Vegas Valley, Nevada. Other locations outside of Las Vegas include Reno, Virginia City, and Crystal Bay, Nevada.
Access Note
Collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
Materials in this collection may be protected by copyrights and other rights. See Reproductions and Use on the UNLV Special Collections and Archives website for more information about reproductions and permissions to publish.
Arrangement
Materials are arranged by topic.
Biographical / Historical Note
Robert B. Griffith was born in 1899 in California and moved to Las Vegas, Nevada with his father E.W. Griffith, a Las Vegas contractor and settler, in 1905. He attended the University of Nevada, Reno and graduated in 1923 with a degree in civil engineering. That same year he married Ruth Atcheson and returned to Las Vegas. In 1925 upon his appointment as postmaster, the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce assigned Griffith the task of determining whether the city could accommodate airmail services. As part of this task, Griffith helped the city lease Anderson Field, later renamed Rockwell Field as part of the lease agreement. Upon the expiration of the lease, Rockwell Field's owners sold the land and Griffith selected a new site later known as Nellis Air Force Base. Griffith retired as postmaster in 1930, but continued to serve as an aviation expert for the community. He was instrumental in the development of both the Nellis Air Force Base and McCarran International Airport.
During World War II, Griffith began working towards securing water access for southern Nevada. Starting in 1957, Griffith served on the Colorado River Commission and served as chair in 1966. Griffith, along with other community leaders, convinced the federal government to assist in the building of a water pipeline that went from Lake Mead to the Las Vegas Valley, Nevada. The project, initially named the Southern Nevada Water Project, supplied water to Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Henderson, Boulder City, and Nellis Air Force Base. Griffith passed away in 1979. In 1982, the city renamed the project the Robert B. Griffith Water Project, and in the early 1990s, the project was incorporated into the Southern Nevada Water System Treatment and Transmission Facility (SNWS TTF). As of 2020, the SNWS TFF continues to supplement the Griffith Project.
Sources:
Stoldal, Robert. “Robert Griffith.” Las Vegas Review-Journal. February 7, 1999. Accessed June 27, 2018. https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/robert-griffith/.
Rogers, Jedediah. “Robert B. Griffith Water Project.” Bureau of Reclamation. 2006. Accessed June 27, 2018. https://www.usbr.gov/projects/pdf.php?id=181.
"R. B. Griffith Project." Bureau of Reclamation. 2020. Accessed January 30, 2020. https://www.usbr.gov/projects/index.php?id=385
Preferred Citation
Robert B. Griffith Photograph Collection, approximately 1950-1970. PH-00106. Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.
Permalink
Acquisition Note
Materials were donated periodically from 1980 to 1990 by Mary Jane Reiter Griffith; accession numbers 80-97, 84-79, 85-39, 86-31, and 90-48.
Processing Note
In 2020, as part of an archival backlog elimination project, Jimmy Chang rehoused and arranged the materials, wrote the finding aid, and entered the data into ArchivesSpace.