Abstract
The David Fluke Papers on Las Vegas Entertainers consists of the notebooks of David Fluke, a Las Vegas, Nevada resident whose hobby was documenting entertainers and shows on the Las Vegas Strip from 1946 to 1981. His notebooks feature handwritten lists of entertainers' show dates and lounge acts, and include dates for the Las Vegas debuts of numerous performers. The collection also contains celebrity trivia and biographical sketches of various Las Vegas entertainers.
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Scope and Contents Note
The David Fluke Papers on Las Vegas Entertainers consist of the notebooks of David Fluke, a Las Vegas, Nevada resident whose hobby was documenting entertainers and shows on the Las Vegas Strip from 1946 to 1981. His notebooks feature handwritten lists of entertainers' show dates and lounge acts, and include dates for the Las Vegas debuts of numerous performers. The collection also contains celebrity trivia and biographical sketches of various Las Vegas entertainers.
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 are arranged by subject.
Biographical / Historical Note
David Fluke worked as a book manager for the Los Angeles News before retiring to Las Vegas, Nevada in the early 1970s. In 1974, he began assembling a systematic index of Las Vegas entertainment history. Using microfilm from the public library, Fluke and his wife Neva Mae compiled steno books of handwritten lists featuring entertainers, organized by the hotels they appeared in, their shows, and their debut dates. Fluke also compiled a birthday book, listing the birth dates of a wide range of celebrities, a book listing the real names of celebrities, and a book of celebrity death dates. An article in the Las Vegas Sun on May 28, 1978 quoted Fluke’s wife as saying that his ultimate goal was "to cover in chronological order all phases of entertainment in Las Vegas."
Fluke passed away in a Las Vegas nursing home in 1986.
Preferred Citation
David Fluke Papers on Las Vegas Entertainers, 1946-1983. MS-00304. Special Collections, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.
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Acquisition Note
The materials were donated by the estate of David Fluke in 1989; accession number 1989-029.
Processing Note
Materials were processed by Special Collections Staff and the collection guide was created by Su Kim Chung.
In 2014, as part of a legacy finding aid conversion project, Kayla McDuffie revised and enhanced the collection description to bring it into compliance with current professional standards. Subsequently Kayla McDuffie entered the data into ArchivesSpace.