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Lift Up Windsor Park Project Collection (MS-01140)

Abstract

The Lift Up Windsor Project Collection (approximately 2020-2023) contains digitized copies of North Las Vegas, Nevada City Council meeting minutes, geological and environmental impact statements, and other types of documentation originally published from the 1950s to 2010s that were collected by Sebastian Ross, graduate student at UNLV's Boyd School of Law and an archived version of the Lift up Windsor Park project website. Assemblywoman Dina Neal (now Nevada State Senator) led the project, which included faculty and students from UNLV's film department and law school, to research and advocate for Windsor Park, one of the first all-Black housing communities in North Las Vegas that was developed in the 1960s. The records in this collection represent the research material used for Windsor Park: The Sinking Streets documentary that tells the story of how the neighborhood was developed on top of an aquifer and seismic faults which have damaged homes over the past five decades.

Finding Aid PDF

Date

2020 to 2023

Extent

36 digital_files (0.150 GB) PDF/A
1 websites (0.910 GB) WARC

Related People/Corporations

Collector: Neal, Dina

Scope and Contents Note

The Lift Up Windsor Project Collection (approximately 2020-2023) contains digitized copies of North Las Vegas, Nevada City Council meeting minutes, geological and environmental impact statements, and other types of documentation originally published from the 1950s to 2010s that were collected by Sebastian Ross, graduate student at UNLV's Boyd School of Law and an archived version of the Lift up Windsor Park project website. Assemblywoman Dina Neal (now Nevada State Senator) led the project, which included faculty and students from UNLV's film department and law school, to research and advocate for Windsor Park, one of the first all-Black housing communities in North Las Vegas that was developed in the 1960s. The records in this collection represent the research material used for Windsor Park: The Sinking Streets documentary that tells the story of how the neighborhood was developed on top of an aquifer and seismic faults which have damaged homes over the past five decades.

Access Note

Collection is open for research. Arrangements must be made in advance to access digital files; please contact UNLV Special Collections and Archives for additional information.

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 remain as they were received.

Biographical / Historical Note

The neighborhood of Windsor Park in North Las Vegas, Nevada was developed in the early 1960s as one of the first all-Black communities in then-segregated Southern Nevada. Windsor Park was built on top of a receding aquifer and seismic faults, which over time has caused sinking homes due to reactivated faults and surface fissures which were caused by subsidence starting in the 1980s. The North Las Vegas City Council passed a resolution in 1991 to suspend permits for new buildings and additions to existing buildings. In 1997, Windsor Park residents were offered $50,000 to relocate to new homes in North Las Vegas. Although several dozen families accepted the offer, many other families, particularly elderly residents, remained in their homes as they felt that they could not buy a comparable home for the amount they were offered.

In 2019, the ciy of North Las Vegas moved toward approving a zoning change to build a warehousing facility on 86 acres of undeveloped land next to Windsor Park. Assemblywoman Dina Neal, whose district included Windsor Park, reached out to the UNLV Boyd School of Law for assistance to research the history of Windsor Park and raise advocacy for the community. The collaboration led to a partnership with UNLV's Department of Film in the College of Fine Arts to create Windsor Park: The Sinking Streets, a 14 minute documentary that tells the story of Windsor Park. The documentary, in turn, has raised awareness of the historic and ongoing structural issues in Windsor Park and has opened up opportunities and conversations between Neal, city of North Las Vegas officials, and developers.

Sources:

Prevatt, Mike. "New Documentary Tells the Tale of Sinking North Las Vegas Homes." KNPR, September 23, 2021. https://knpr.org/show/knprs-state-of-nevada/2021-09-23/new-documentary-tells-the-tale-of-sinking-north-las-vegas-homes.

Ross, Sebastian. "In Search of Robbed Time." RJ Magazine, September 18, 2022. https://www.reviewjournal.com/rj-magazine/in-search-of-robbed-time-the-long-hard-struggle-of-windsor-park-2626343/.

Weatherford, Mike. "The Windsor Park Story, Part 1: That Sinking Feeling." UNLV News Center, January 5, 2023. https://www.unlv.edu/news/article/windsor-park-sinking-feeling.

Preferred Citation

Lift Up Windsor Park Collection, approximately 2020-2023. MS-01140. Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada. http://n2t.net/ark:/62930/f1mr3d

Acquisition Note

Materials were donated by Dina Neal in 2023; accession number 2023-010.

Processing Note

In 2023, Tammi Kim converted the digital files to PDF/A and created the finding aid in ArchivesSpace.

Resource Type

Collection

Collection Type

EAD ID

US::NVLN::MS01140

Finding Aid Description Rules

Describing Archives: A Content Standard
English