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Alice Key Papers (MS-00095)

Abstract

The Alice Key Papers (1936-2004) consist of documents detailing Alice Key’s life and work in the African American community, historic preservation, and labor relations in Las Vegas, Nevada. Included in the collection are awards and certificates documenting Key’s achievements, invitations and programs to events, political and civic correspondence, and magazine and newspaper articles both about Key and written by her. The collection also contains photographs.

Finding Aid PDF

Date

1936 to 2004

Extent

0.46 Cubic Feet (1 box)
0.42 Linear Feet

Related People/Corporations

Scope and Contents Note

The Alice Key Papers (1936-2004) consist of documents detailing Alice Key’s life and work in the African American community, historic preservation, and labor relations in Las Vegas, Nevada. Included in the collection are awards and certificates documenting Key’s achievements in historic preservation and public service, invitations and programs to local and national events such as United States presidential inaugurations, political and civic correspondence, and magazine and newspaper articles both about Key and written by her. The magazine and newspaper articles span eight decades, with the earliest being a cover story on Key when she was a young dancer. The collection also contains photographs of performers at the Cotton Club and Louisiana Club, which were popular nightlife establishments in the historic Westside neighborhood of Las Vegas, as well as National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) events. There are two VHS tape recordings: one of a KLAS-TV program about Black History Month featuring Key, and a recording of an award luncheon honoring her.

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 remain in original order.

Biographical / Historical Note

Alice Marie Key was born to Louise and Malcolm Key on March 18, 1911 in Henderson, Kentucky. She moved with her family to Riverside, California where she finished high school, graduating in 1928. Key then moved to Los Angeles, California where she studied journalism at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). While attending UCLA, she met Leroy Broomfield of the Cotton Club in Culver City, California and left school to pursue a career as a dancer and chorus girl. After dancing in California for five years, Duke Ellington recommended her as a dancer for the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York. Key traveled to New York City, New York and went on a six month Cotton Club show tour through Europe, including performances at the Moulin Rouge in Paris, France and the Palladium in London, England.

In 1943, Key stopped dancing to work as a writer for the Los Angeles Tribune, a newspaper for Los Angeles's African-American community. Key moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1954 to work for the Las Vegas Voice, owned by her acquaintance, Dr. Charles I. West. She also started Nevada's first all-African-American television talk show, Talk of the Town, with actor Bob Bailey.

Throughout her life, and especially during the 1960s, Key passionately fought for civil rights through various community activities and public jobs. She worked as the public relations manager for the Nevada Committee for the Rights of Women, as the executive director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), as a member of the Clark County Economic Opportunity Board, and was appointed as Nevada's deputy labor commissioner by Governor Richard Bryan in 1983.

After retiring from public service in 1993, Key maintained her community activism through organizations such as the Barbara Jordan Democratic Women's Club, the Moulin Rouge Preservation Association, the Black Las Vegas Historical Society, Inc., and Ladies Who Danced.

Alice Key died in Las Vegas, Nevada on September 29, 2010.

Sources:

"Alice Key." The History Makers, September 29, 2010. Accessed June 2019. https://www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/alice-key-41

"Alice Key: A Renaissance Woman." Online Nevada Encyclopedia. Accessed June 2019. http://www.onlinenevada.org/articles/alice-key-renaissance-woman-0

Martin, Michael. "Wisdom Watch: Alice Key." Tell Me More on National Public Radio, August 8, 2007. Accessed June 2019. https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12587123

Related Collections

The following resources may provide additional information related to the materials in this collection:

Alice Key oral history interviews, 1997 February 17 and 1997 March 24. OH-01015. Oral History Research Center, Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.

Preferred Citation

Alice Key Papers, 1936-2004. MS-00095. Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.

Acquisition Note

Original accession was donated in 1995 by Alice Key; accession number 95-47. Additional accession numbers; 2008-029, 2013-025, and 2014-11.

Processing Note

Material was processed in 1995 by Joyce Marshall. In 2016, Joyce Moore edited and enhanced the collection description to bring it up to current professional standards. In 2019, Landon Paljusaj revised the inventory and finding aid in ArchivesSpace.

Resource Type

Papers

Collection Type

EAD ID

US::NvLN::MS00095

Separated Materials

Some of the photographs in this acquisition were removed from the collection and placed in the Alice Key Photograph Collection, 1930s-1990s. PH-00297. Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.

Finding Aid Description Rules

Describing Archives: A Content Standard
English