Abstract
The Thomas Clark Professional Papers (1950-1998) contain materials from his tenure as a Professor of English at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), which are divided into two series. The gaming research series includes newspaper clippings, correspondence, brochures, bulletins and articles. Also included are book chapters, a glossary of terms used in the casino industry, and gambling guides. In the linguistics and teaching series there are research files, articles, speeches, correspondence, interviews, multimedia, workshops, and conference materials. Also included are files on graffiti, symbolism, ethnic and regional speech differences, language usage, and National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) material. Additional materials include colleague publications and cassette tapes of interviews from students in courses Clark taught at UNLV.
Finding Aid PDF
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Scope and Contents Note
The Thomas Clark Professional Papers (1950-1998) contain materials from his tenure as a Professor of English at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), which are divided into two series. The gaming research series includes newspaper clippings, correspondence, brochures, bulletins and articles. Also included are book chapters, a glossary of terms used in the casino industry, and gambling guides. In the linguistics and teaching series there are research files, articles, speeches, correspondence, interviews, multimedia, workshops, and conference materials. Also included are files on graffiti, symbolism, ethnic and regional speech differences, language usage, and National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) material. Additional materials include colleague publications and cassette tapes of interviews from students in courses Clark taught at UNLV.
Access Note
Collection is open for research. If use copies of the recordings do not exist, reformatting/production of use copies is required before access will be granted; this may delay research requests. Advanced notice is required.
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
These records are organized in two series:
Series I. Gaming research files, 1953-1998;
Series II. Linguistics teaching and research files, 1950-1987.
Biographical / Historical Note
University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) English professor Thomas L. Clark was born in Havre, Montana on July 10, 1939. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1964 and a master's degree in 1966 from the University of Utah. He received his doctorate at Ohio University in 1970, the same year he moved to Las Vegas, Nevada and began his teaching career. Clark was a linguistics expert who authored gambling lexicons and wrote several articles on language and linguistics. He was the author of five books and hosted "UNLV Focus," a program on UNLV news and events that aired on six local radio stations. Clark did consultation work for Las Vegas area law firms and testified as an expert witness on semantic analysis of language in contracts, patents, statutes, and gaming regulations.
Clark was a member of the American Council of Learned Studies, American Dialect Society, American Names Society, National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), and the Linguistics Society of America. In 1987, he won the Morris Award for Excellence in Research from the College of Arts and Letters at UNLV and was appointed the Barrick research professor in 1990.
Clark died in Las Vegas on February 26, 1998.
Source:
"UNLV linguistics expert Clark dies," Las Vegas Sun. Accessed January 4, 2019. https://lasvegassun.com/news/1998/mar/09/unlv-professor-linguist-clark-dies/
Preferred Citation
Thomas Clark Professional Papers, 1950-1998. MS-00307. Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.
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Acquisition Note
Materials were donated by Thomas Clark in 1989 and 2001; accession numbers 89-73 and 2001-20.
Processing Note
In 2018, Joyce Moore processed the collection, wrote the finding aid, and entered the data into ArchivesSpace. In 2020, as part of an archival backlog elimination project, Angela Moor and Ryan DiPaolo added boxes, rehoused materials, and enhanced descriptions to bring them into compliance with current professional standards.