Abstract
The University of Nevada, Las Vegas Arboretum Project Records are comprised of documents, brochures, and photographs dating from 1976 to 2012 documenting both the creation and operations of the Arboretum at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). The collection includes photographs of planning the Arboretum, the opening ceremony, and aerial photos of the UNLV campus. The brochures include guides to the Arboretum, lists of types of plants grown, and information on the Xeric Garden.
Finding Aid PDF
Date
Extent
Related People/Corporations
Scope and Contents Note
The University of Nevada, Las Vegas Arboretum Project Records are comprised of brochures, photographs, and documents created by the University of Nevada, Las Vegas's (UNLV) Division of Facilities Management and Planning about UNLV's Arboretum from 1976 to 2012. The records document the Arboretum as a whole, which covers the entire 335 acre campus, as well as the two acre Xeric Garden located in front of the Marjorie Barrick Musuem of Art. The majority of the records are about plant types, donations, memorials in the garden, events about the Arboretum, and day-to-day operational concerns. The records highlight UNLV's efforts to create water efficient landscaping as well as the process of creating and maintaining UNLV's Arboretum.
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 website for more information about reproductions and permissions to publish.
Arrangement
Materials remain in original order.
Biographical / Historical Note
The Arboretum at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) was established in 1985 under the leadership of Dennis Swartzell, a UNLV facilities manager. The Arboretum is responsible for all of the landscaping on the 335-acre campus. In 1985 the state legislator designated the UNLV campus as an arboretum. The mission of the UNLV Arboretum is to display plant material appropriate for high desert conditions. As part of this mission the Arboretum continually introduces and cultivates new plants into the Arboretum and evaluates how well they grow in desert conditions.
The Arboretum also includes the two-acre Donald H. Baepler Xeric Garden located at the entrance of the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art. The word “xeric” is taken from the Greek word “xeros” which means “dry." The goal of the Donald H. Baepler Xeric Garden it to demonstrate how drought-tolerant plants combined with an efficient irrigation system save water and create an attractive landscape. The Xeric Garden was designed by local architect, Jack Zunino, and covers a 1.5 acre site directly east of the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art. The Xeric garden was designed to be an extension of the Barrick Museum and the Harry Reid Center for Environmental Studies. The Xeric Garden was proposed by UNLV facilities manager Dennis Swartzell and was named after former UNLV president Donald Baepler.
Sources:
UNLV News Center, “The Back Story: Baepler Xeric Garden,” University of Nevada, Las Vegas News Center, February 23, 2013.
“Arboretum,” University of Nevada, Las Vegas Facilities Management, accessed June 2, 2017.
Preferred Citation
University of Nevada, Las Vegas Arboretum Project Records, 1976-2012. UA-00043. Special Collections, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.
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Acquisition Note
Materials were transferred to the University Archives in 2013 by the Division of Facilities Management and Planning; accession numbers 2014-018, 2014-019, former record group 21.1.1.
Processing Note
These materials are unprocessed. A rough inventory of the accession was created by Maggie Bukowski in 2017. To prepare inventory, the described materials were reviewed to create a content list, estimate dates, and identify material types. No other work has been preformed on the materials.