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Harmon Family Photograph Collection (PH-00182)

Abstract

The Harmon Family Photograph Collection contains black-and-white and color photographic prints, negatives, postcards, and slides of the Harmon family in Las Vegas and Boulder City, Nevada between approximately 1900 and 1983. Las Vegas photographs depict the Harmon family in their home, at a ranch, and at Las Vegas High School. Boulder City photographs include a wedding and a view of Black Canyon, Nevada. Lastly, the collection also includes photographs of the Harmon family with various people, including the Wengert family and Howard Cannon, at receptions, ceremonies, and posing in front of Las Vegas buildings.

Finding Aid PDF

Date

1900 to 1983

Extent

0.18 Cubic Feet (2 hanging folders, 1 flat file, 1 shared box of negatives, and 1 shared binder of slides)
1.20 Linear Feet

Related People/Corporations

Scope and Contents Note

The Harmon Family Photograph Collection contains black-and-white and color photographic prints, negatives, postcards, and slides of the Harmon family in Las Vegas and Boulder City, Nevada between approximately 1900 and 1983. Las Vegas photographs depict the Harmon family in their home, at a ranch, and at Las Vegas High School. Boulder City photographs include a wedding and a view of Black Canyon, Nevada. Lastly, the collection also includes photographs of the Harmon family with various people, including the Wengert family and Howard Cannon, at receptions, ceremonies, and posing in front of Las Vegas buildings.

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

Harley A. Harmon was born in 1882 in Wier City, Kansas. His father, Elmer Harmon, was an attorney who moved the family to Los Angeles, California when Harmon was nine years old. In 1903, Harley A. Harmon unsuccessfully ran for Los Angeles City Clerk. In 1905, Harley A. Harmon joined the Union Pacific Railroad as an engineer and drove one of the first construction trains to Las Vegas, Nevada, where Harley A. Harmon was stationed in 1908.

That same year, Harley A. Harmon attended the Democratic State Convention and advocated for the establishment of Clark County in Las Vegas, which passed in the next session and became effective on July 1, 1909. When Las Vegas was incorporated in 1911, Harley A. Harmon became Clark County's first City Clerk. Harmon took his bar examination and passed in 1919, and in 1921 he was elected District Attorney. Harmon held the office until 1934, when he ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for governor. After the election, the newly elected Democratic Governor Richard Kirman appointed Harmon the chairman of the State Public Service Commission. Harmon ran again for the gubernatorial nomination in 1938 and lost a second time. He was a member of the Colorado River Commission which negotiated rights for the water and power emanating from the Colorado River and the Boulder Dam.

Harley A. Harmon married Leona McGovern in 1911 and had two children, Charles E. Harmon and Harley E. Harmon. Harley A. Harmon died October 10, 1947.

Harley Emmett Harmon was born November 21, 1918 to Harley A. Harmon and Leona Gates Harmon in Las Vegas, Nevada. He attended school in Las Vegas, Nevada and graduated in 1937. Harley E. Harmon graduated the from the University of Nevada, Reno. In 1947, Harley E. Harmon married Cleo L. Katsaros, and the couple had two sons, Harley L. Harmon and Jeffrey E. Harmon. Harley E. Harmon was elected to the Nevada State Assembly for one term in 1948 and to the Board of Clark County Commissioners in 1950, where he served for twelve years and was a chairman for eight years. He established and was president of the Harley E. Harmon Insurance Agency, Frontier Fidelity Savings and Loan Association, and in 1961 organized the purchase of Nevada State Bank and became president. In 1976, he moved from the Nevada State Bank and joined Valley Bank as Vice President for Marketing. He resigned from that position in 1979 and later began Harley E. Harmon Insurance with his wife. Harley E. Harmon died on September 24, 2001.

Sources:

The First One Hundred: Portraits of the Men and Women Who Shaped Las Vegas, F849.L35 F58 1999.

Hopkins, A.D. "Harley Harmon." Las Vegas Review-Journal. October 28, 2017. Accessed March 12, 2018. https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/harley-harmon/.

Related Collections

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

Harmon Family Papers, 1910-1999, MS-00301. Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.

Harley E. Harmon oral history interview, 1972 April 14. OH-00793. Oral History Research Center, Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.

Harley E. Harmon oral history interview, 1998 September 16. OH-00793. Oral History Research Center, Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.

Preferred Citation

Harmon Family Photograph Collection, approximately 1900-1983. PH-00182. Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.

Acquisition Note

Materials were donated in 1983 by Harley E. Harmon; accession number 1983-061.

Processing Note

In 2020, as part of an archival backlog elimination project, Jimmy Chang wrote the finding aid and entered the data into ArchivesSpace.

Resource Type

Collection

Collection Type

EAD ID

US::NVLN::PH00182

Finding Aid Description Rules

Describing Archives: A Content Standard
English