Abstract
The Penelope Ruchman Collection of Las Vegas, Nevada Casino Professionals Oral Histories includes interviews conducted by Ruchman from approximately 1999 to 2001 of casino industry workers who worked in Las Vegas, Nevada. The majority of interviews were conducted by Ruchman in their office at Gambler's Book Shop (GBS), but some where conducted in interviewee's homes and offices, or over the phone. The collection represents Ruchman's efforts to interview and document a generation of early casino industry workers that were quickly aging. The project was intended to be compiled as a definitive history of Las Vegas and American gambling, entitled "After the Gold Rush." The project was permanently postponed in the fall of 2001 when Ruchman left GBS to work for Park Place Entertainment as a corporate business and operations analyst, and later as casino operations director for Caesars Palace. Not all interviews have digital transcripts available.
Finding Aid PDF
Date
Extent
Related People/Corporations
Scope and Contents Note
The Penelope Ruchman Collection of Las Vegas, Nevada Casino Professionals Oral Histories includes interviews conducted by Ruchman from approximately 1999 to 2001 of casino industry workers who worked in Las Vegas, Nevada. The majority of interviews were conducted by Ruchman in their office at Gambler's Book Shop (GBS), but some where conducted in interviewee's homes and offices, or over the phone. The collection represents Ruchman's efforts to interview and document a generation of early casino industry workers that were quickly aging. The project was intended to be compiled as a definitive history of Las Vegas and American gambling, entitled "After the Gold Rush." The project was permanently postponed in the fall of 2001 when Ruchman left GBS to work for Park Place Entertainment as a corporate business and operations analyst, and later as casino operations director for Caesars Palace. Not all interviews have digital transcripts available.
Access Note
Collection is open for research. Arrangements must be made in advance to access digital files; please contact UNLV Special Collections and Archives (special.collections@unlv.edu) for additional information.
Publication Rights
This material is made available to facilitate private study, scholarship, or research. There are no release forms on file for these interviews. Researchers must seek permission from the interviewee or heirs for quotation, reproduction, or publication. For more information, please see the UNLV Special Collections policies on reproduction and use or contact us at special.collections@unlv.edu. Some transcripts do not exist in final form, therefore any editing marks in a transcript (deletions, additions, corrections) are to be quoted as marked.
Arrangement
Materials remain as they were received.
General Note
Digitization of these materials was funded by a 2023 Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) “Recordings at Risk” grant project.
Biographical / Historical Note
Penelope "Pennie" Ruchman is a long-time gaming and casino professional who graduated from in 1977 from Oberlin College's Creative Writing and American Literature honors program. Following graduation, Ruchman moved to New York City, New York to work as a photographer where she apprenticed for Irving Penn and Arnold Newman before embarking on a career of creating her own artwork, holding one-woman exhibitions throughout the country.
In the 1990s, Ruchman worked in Las Vegas, Nevada at the Gambler's Book Shop (GBS) on Charleston Boulevard and 11th Street. Ruchman served as vice president of the GBS until the fall of 2001 when she left to work for the now defunct Park Place Entertainment as a corporate business and operations analyst and then casino operations director for Caesars Palace. Ruchman then worked for Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut following her time in Las Vegas. In 2009, she helped open the FireKeepers Casino Hotel in Battle Creek, Michigan.
Source:
Penelope Ruchman, written communication provided at time of donation, December 13, 2018.
Preferred Citation
Penelope Ruchman Collection of Las Vegas, Nevada Casino Professionals Oral Histories, approximately 1999-2001. MS-00907. Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada. http://n2t.net/ark:/62930/f1fh3f
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Acquisition Note
Materials were purchased in 2018; accession number 2018-059.
Processing Note
The materials in this collection are unprocessed. A summary of materials was created by Tammi Kim in 2019 during accessioning. To prepare the summary, the described materials were reviewed to create a contents list, estimate dates, and identify materials types. Karla Irwin processed the digital files. In 2023, Sarah Jones updated the collection inventory with a detailed list of taped interviews and corresponding digital transcripts. Sarah Jones also updated the front matter. In 2023, materials were shipped to an external vendor for digitization. Vendor staff inspected, cleaned, and reformatted physical items into digital files with both preservation (.wav) and access copies (.mp3). In 2024, UNLV SCA staff ingested the files, reviewed for content and quality, and created summaries of each item. Physical items were retained once returned from the vendor. Audio was matched with existing transcripts and the inventory was updated to reflect the interviews with and without transcripts.