Jane Ham Legislative Papers (MS-00221)

Nevada Republican Assemblywoman Jane Ham was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1919. She received her B.A. in Fine Arts from Ohio State University. She later did post-graduate work in aeronautical engineering at the University of Minnesota. She married Charles W. Ham, and the couple resided in Ohio until 1955 where Ham worked as a draftsman and design engineer in Columbus, Ohio.

Ham and her husband moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, in 1955. The Hams settled into their home in Paradise Valley, and during the next few years, Jane Ham continued her education at the Dana McKay Business School, gave birth to two daughters and a son, and served as a volunteer in numerous organizations. Ham's political activities included membership in the Clark County Republican Central Committee, precinct captain, 2nd Vice Chairman of the Clark County GOP Central Committee, Deputy Registrar of Voters, Columnist and Cartoonist for the GOPaper, and other positions with the national, state, and county Republican Women.

Alarmed with property tax increases in 1978, Ham researched the tax issues and the record of her Assemblyman and decided to seek the District 16 Assembly seat. Defeated in her first attempt, she ran again, this time successfully, in 1980. Ham served three terms in the Nevada assembly 1981, 1983, and 1985. She considered the 1985 session to be the most productive, as Republicans gained a majority in the Assembly. According to Ham, her crowning achievement was a bipartisan organization of women's legislators.