Research

The Southern Nevada Jewish Heritage portal provides access to primary source materials including oral history interview transcripts and audio clips, business records, and personal papers of members of the Jewish community.

RESEARCH TIPS

This site provides a comprehensive, searchable, online collection of digitized materials in multiple formats. The digital collection is designed to help users browse topic areas and retrieve information of specific interest by entering search terms. All items in this collection have assigned keywords (metadata) to help facilitate discovery through common access points like name, date, business, geographic location, and subject. Each oral history interview has been transcribed and the full-text transcript is searchable. Transcripts can be downloaded as PDFs and printed or emailed for research purposes.

The digital collection features an Advanced Search for researchers wishing to combine several search parameters in complex queries. Research librarians at UNLV, as well as staff at local cultural heritage organizations, are always willing to assist with searches. For more information about the digital collection search features see the Special Collections Portal help page.

ORAL HISTORIES

A major component of this project was gathering first-person accounts of the Jewish experience in Las Vegas. Over 50 oral history interviews were conducted in the first phase of this project. Older interviews, collected as early as 1975, were digitized and transcribed, and are included here. Interviews with prominent members of the community offer an invaluable glimpse into the life of business people, politicians and entrepreneurs over several decades.

An oral history is a spoken account of certain events and phenomena recorded at one particular moment and filtered through one’s life experience, sensibility and memory. As such, it should be considered a primary source rather than a final, verified or complete narrative of the events it records. The Oral History Association [OHA] is the central professional organization for oral historians and maintains a website with Principles and Best Practices, and much more. Educators, please view the OHA Pamphlet Series’ Oral History Projects in Your Classroom.

MANUSCRIPT COLLECTIONS IN UNLV SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

Portions of collections have been digitized for this project and are viewable online. Collections can be viewed in their entirety in the Special Collections Reading Room, Lied Library, UNLV. For guidance using primary source materials, see Research & Services at UNLV Special Collections.

Abbey (Joshua) Papers, MS-00820.

• Anti-Defamation League Nevada Region Office photographs and sign, 2000s. MS-00076.
• Adele Baratz Papers, 1930s-2010. MS-00701.
• Benedict Family Papers, MS-00821.
• Burt and Wilma Bass Photographs and Programs, 1976-1987 and undated. MS-00716.
• Shelley Berkley Papers, 1999-2012. MS-00599.
• Eileen Brookman Papers, 1941-2002. MS-00620.
• Brookman (Eileen) Photographs, 1959-1989. PH-00303.
• Collection on the Las Vegas Jewish Community, 1964-2006. MS-00426.
• Congregation Ner Tamid Records, 1974-2016 MS-00812.
• Renee Diamond Papers, 1972-2000. MS-00377.
• Flora Dungan Papers, 1929-1974. MS-00193.
• Dorothy Eisenberg Papers, early 1900s-2009. MS-00528.
• Mark L. Fine Papers, 1964-2014. MS-00696.
• Neil Galatz Scrapbooks, 1948-2009. MS-00723.
• Generations of the Shoah - Nevada Records, 2001-2015. MS-00720.
• Hyman Gold Papers, 1935-2004. MS-00496.
• Hank Greenspun Papers, 1962-1966. MS-00138.
• Hart (Steven) Papers, MS-00839.
• Nat Hart Professional Papers, 1945-2000. MS-00419.
• Senator Chic Hecht Papers, 1943-1989. MS-00003.
• Hank Henry Papers, 1934-1980. MS-00490.
• Sperling Kronberg Mack Holocaust Resource Center Records, 1965-2015. MS-00733.
• Holocaust Survivors Group of Southern Nevada Records, 1965-2015. MS-00741.
• Hornsby (Rochelle) Papers, MS-00835.
• Jewish Family Service Agency Records, 1954, 1977-2013. MS-00386.
• Jewish Federation of Las Vegas Records, 1978-2012. MS-00602.
• Edythe and Lloyd Katz Papers, 1934-2002. MS-00376.
• Katz (Edythe and Lloyd) Photographs,1934-2002. PH-00250.
• Miriam "Mimi" Katz Papers, 1940s-2015. MS-00721. 
• Minsky (Harold) Photographs Collection,1922-1978. PH-0075.
• Henry Kronberg Papers, 1945-2010s. MS-00718.
• Levy Family Papers, 1928-1989. MS-00814.
• Ron Lurie Papers, 1972-1990. MS-00326.
• Joyce Mack Papers, 1970s-2014. MS-00732.
• Michael S. Mack Papers, approximately 1940s-1950s and undated. MS-00736.
• Flora and Stuart Mason Photographs and Event Programs, 1965-2010. MS-00694.
• Mason (Stuart and Flora) Photographs, 1940-1999. PH-00370.
• Minsky's Burlesque Collection, 1922-1978. MS-00290.
• Mitrani (Frank) Photographs,1953-2010. PH-00332
• Irwin and Susan Molasky Papers, early 1900s-2012. MS-00661.
• Nathan Adelson Hospice Records, 1978-1992. MS-00318.
• Barbara Raben Collection on the Las Vegas Jewish Community, 1976-2015. MS-00655.
• Sands Hotel Collection,1952-1979. MS-00417.
• Sands Hotel Collection,1950-1980. PH-00287.
• Dennis and Roberta Sabbath Papers, 1970s-1991. MS-00731.
• Jay Sarno Collection, 1965-2001. MS-00548.
• Henry and Anita Schuster Papers, 1941-2011. MS-00580.
• Arnold Shaw Papers,1927-2006. MS-00031.
• Shaw (Gil) photograph collection, PH-00396.
• Southern Nevada Jewish Heritage Project Community Collection, 1950s-2016. MS-00790.
• Gary Sternberg Papers, 1983-2015. MS-00717.
• Maury Stevens Papers,1953-1981. MS-00268.
• Muriel Stevens Papers, 1969-1985. MS-00269.
• Taylor Construction Company Collection, 1954-1973. MS-00664.
• Temple Beth Sholom Records, 1948-2014. MS-00711.
• Si Zentner Collection of Music Scores, 1957-1996. MS-00487.
• UNLV University Library Photographs of the Jewish community of Southern Nevada, 2016. PH-00389.
• Wilner Family Collection,1983-2008. MS-00810.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Green, Michael. "The Jews," in The Peoples of Las Vegas: One City, Many Faces. Eds. Jerry L. Simich and Thomas C. Wright. Reno: University of Nevada Press, 2005.

Green, Michael. "History of Las Vegas Jews links past and present," in The Jewish Reporter, March 22, 2002, p. 4-5.

Marschall, John P. Jews in Nevada: A History. Reno: University of Nevada Press, 2011

VIDEO/DOCUMENTARIES

KNPB Documentaries. Jews in Nevada. 2012. Retrieved from: http://watch.knpb.org/video/2248844162/

Vegas PBS. Remembering the Holocaust: Las Vegas Survivors Tell Their Stories. Retrieved from: http://www.vegaspbs.org/shows/remembering-holocaust/

NEWSPAPERS & PERIODICALS

Las Vegas Israelite (Published since 1965)

The Jewish Reporter (Published by the Jewish Federation of Las Vegas, 1976-2009)

David Magazine