Abstract
The Ned V. Bearden Sr. Photograph Collection contains black-and-white photographic prints and negatives of early Las Vegas, Nevada Fremont Street hotels, casinos, as well as Las Vegas businesses and residences between approximately 1940 to 1960. These photographs detail air conditioning units installations by Bearden throughout Las Vegas.
Finding Aid PDF
Date
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Related People/Corporations
Scope and Contents Note
The Ned V. Bearden Sr. Photograph Collection contains black-and-white photographic prints and negatives of early Las Vegas, Nevada Fremont Street hotels, casinos, as well as Las Vegas businesses and residences between approximately 1940 to 1960. These photographs detail air conditioning units installations by Bearden throughout Las Vegas.
Hotel and casino properties include the Apache Hotel, Golden Nugget, Pioneer Club, Las Vegas Club, Monte Carlo Club, Thunderbird Hotel and Casino, El Cortez Hotel & Casino, California Club, and Fortune Club. The collection also depicts businesses such as stores for jewelry, liquor, clothing, air conditioning, ice, and farming equipment, as well as various single-family residences with their names and addresses noted.
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 as they were received.
Biographical / Historical Note
Ned V. Bearden Sr. was born on January 6, 1916 in Ellijay, Georgia, and moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1939 seeking business opportunities. Bearden served in the United States Army during World War II as a trade school teacher for hydraulics, mechanics, and electricity. In 1946, Bearden purchased Belsmith Company on 125 South Main Street in Las Vegas. In 1947, he changed the company's name to Desert York Company and became the first air conditioning company in Las Vegas. In 1980, the business changed its name again to Humbelt Corporation and operated as an independent wholesaler and distributor of air conditioning machinery. Bearden retired in 1982 and left his business to his two sons.
Bearden died in 1987 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Source:
"Longtime LV Businessman Ned V. Bearden Sr. Dies."
Preferred Citation
Ned V. Bearden Sr. Photograph Collection, approximately 1940-1960. PH-00188. Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.
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Acquisition Note
Materials were donated in 1984 by Ned V. Bearden Sr.; accession number 1984-050.
Processing Note
In 2020, as part of an archival backlog elimination project, Jimmy Chang wrote the finding aid and entered the data into ArchivesSpace.