Abstract
The Ida Brewington Pittman Photographs contain photographs of Ida Brewington Pittman and her husband, Nevada Governor Vail Pittman, from 1896 to 1976. The photographs primarily depict Governor Pittman at political events, parades, celebrations, and events. The photographs include Governor Pittman meeting with politicians like President Harry S. Truman, U.S. Senator from Nevada Pat McCarran, Las Vegas, Nevada mayor Ernie Cragin, California Governor Earl Warren, Utah Governor J. Bracken Lee, Oregon Governor Earl Snell, and Wyoming Governor Lester C. Hunt. The photographs also depict the Pittman and Brewington families, the Governor’s Mansion in Carson City, Nevada, the Pittman home in Ely, Nevada, and the Pittmans travelling in other countries.
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Scope and Contents Note
The Ida Brewington Pittman Photographs contain photographs of Ida Brewington Pittman and her husband, Nevada Governor Vail Pittman, from 1896 to 1976. The photographs primarily depict Governor Pittman at political events, parades, celebrations, and events. The photographs include Governor Pittman meeting with politicians like President Harry S. Truman, U.S. Senator from Nevada Pat McCarran, Las Vegas, Nevada mayor Ernie Cragin, California Governor Earl Warren, Utah Governor J. Bracken Lee, Oregon Governor Earl Snell, and Wyoming Governor Lester C. Hunt. The photographs also depict the Pittman and Brewington families, the Governor’s Mansion in Carson City, Nevada, the Pittman home in Ely, Nevada, and the Pittmans travelling in other countries.
Access Note
The 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 website for more information about reproductions and permissions to publish.
Arrangement
Materials remain in original order.
Biographical / Historical Note
Vail Pittman was the nineteenth governor of Nevada and served from 1945 to 1951. He was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi in 1883. He became a successful newspaper publisher, and in 1920, with his wife Ida Brewington Pittman, he purchased the Ely Daily Times in Ely, Nevada. In 1924, Pittman successfully ran for Nevada State Senate, in which he served from 1925 to 1928. He was elected Lieutenant Governor of Nevada in 1943, and when Governor Edward P. Carville resigned in 1945 in order to serve in the U.S. Senate, Pittman became governor of Nevada. He was reelected as governor in 1946, but was defeated in 1950. In 1954, he unsuccessfully ran for governor again. In 1960, he served as a member of the Democratic National Committee. Pittman died in 1964.
Sources:
Glad, Betty. Key Pittman: The Tragedy of a Senate Insider. New York City: Columbia University Press, 2013.
“Nevada Governor Vail Montgomery Pittman.” Former Governors’ Bios. National Governors Association. Accessed October 2, 2015. http://www.nga.org/cms/home/governors/past-governors-bios/page_nevada/col2-content/main-content-list/title_pittman_vail.html
Gottschalk, Gertrude. “Ida Louise (Brewington) Pittman (1893 – 1984).” Nevada’s First Ladies. December 2009. Nevada Women’s History Project, University of Nevada, Reno. http://www.unr.edu/nwhp/bios/nv1st/pittman_i.html
Ida Louise "Liz" Brewington was born in 1893 in Macon, Missouri. She became a music teacher, first in Centralia, Missouri, and then Tonopah, Nevada. After marrying Vail Pittman in Reno, Nevada in 1919, she helped him organize and publish the Ely Daily Times in Ely, Nevada. When Pittman was away in Carson City, Nevada, Ida Pittman ran the newspaper by herself. After Pittman’s electoral defeat in 1950, Ida and Vail Pittman moved to Las Vegas, Nevada and sold the newspaper. After her husband died, Ida Pittman traveled extensively. She died in 1984.
Sources:
Glad, Betty. Key Pittman: The Tragedy of a Senate Insider. New York City: Columbia University Press, 2013.
“Nevada Governor Vail Montgomery Pittman.” Former Governors’ Bios. National Governors Association. Accessed October 2, 2015. http://www.nga.org/cms/home/governors/past-governors-bios/page_nevada/col2-content/main-content-list/title_pittman_vail.html
Gottschalk, Gertrude. “Ida Louise (Brewington) Pittman (1893 – 1984).” Nevada’s First Ladies. December 2009. Nevada Women’s History Project, University of Nevada, Reno. http://www.unr.edu/nwhp/bios/nv1st/pittman_i.html
Preferred Citation
Ida Brewington Pittman Photographs, 1896-1976. PH-00289. Special Collections, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.
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Acquisition Note
Materials were donated in 1985 by Ann Brewington; accession number 1985-77.
Processing Note
Materials were processed by Special Collections staff. In 2015, as part of a legacy finding aid conversion project, Lindsay Oden wrote the collection description in compliance with current professional standards.