Abstract
The Beckley Family Photograph Collection (approximately 1891-1982) consists of black-and-white photographic prints and negatives and color photographic slides. The images depict the Beckley family, their businesses in southern Nevada, and Las Vegas, Nevada as the city developed during the first half of the twentieth century. Also included are images of airplanes at the first Las Vegas airport Anderson Field, later renamed Rockwell Field in 1925, Fremont Street in Las Vegas, and postcards of mining towns across southern Nevada.
Finding Aid PDF
Date
Extent
Related People/Corporations
Scope and Contents Note
The Beckley Family Photograph Collection (approximately 1891-1982) consists of black-and-white photographic prints and negatives and color photographic slides. The images depict the Beckley family, their businesses in southern Nevada, and Las Vegas, Nevada as the city developed during the first half of the twentieth century. Also included are images of airplanes at the first Las Vegas airport Anderson Field, later renamed Rockwell Field in 1925, Fremont Street in Las Vegas, and postcards of mining towns across southern Nevada.
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 in original order.
Biographical / Historical Note
William Beckley was born in 1878 to Heinrich Beckley and Magdalene Ruttiman in Switzerland. Beckley arrived in Southern Nevada in approximately 1905, and opened a men's clothing store in Las Vegas, Nevada in 1908 that operated out of tent. Beckley's Men's Wear moved into Hotel Nevada shortly after on the corner of Fremont and Main Street. He married Leva A. Grimes, whose sister would later marry Beckley's brother Jake, in 1910. Beckley and Leva A. Grimes had two children, Virigna and Bruce. Beckley left an iron on overnight, causing the store to burn down in 1912, and Beckley moved to a stand-alone shop in 1913. Beckley continued operating businesses in Las Vegas until his death in 1965.
Virgina Beckley Richardson was born on January 29, 1917 in Las Vegas, Nevada to Leva A. Grimes and William Beckley in Las Vegas. She graduated from Las Vegas High School at the age of sixteen and worked for her father for a year before attending Scripps College in Claremont, California. She finished her education at the University of Nevada, Reno, where she met her husband Jack A. Richardson, and the two married in 1939. Richardson served in World War II, and while he was deployed, Beckley Richardson operated the family business and became a member of the Grey Ladies at Nellis Air Force Base, an organization that wrote letters for and assisted injured soldiers. Upon Richardson's completion of military service, the two opened various businesses in Las Vegas, including the Las Vegas War Surplus Store, Rich's Hardware and Men's Clothing Store, and the Gold Strike Inn and Casino in Boulder City, Nevada. Beckley Richardson remained an active member in the Las Vegas community until her death on August 15, 2017.
Source:
Genealogy files about "William Beckley." Accessed on February 4, 2020 on Familysearch.org.
Garza, Xazmin. "Keeping It in the Family." Las Vegas Review-Journal, March 31, 2011. NewsBank: Access World News – Historical and Current. https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&docref=news/136568085D643B20.
"Virginia Beckley Richardson: 1917-2017." Las Vegas Review-Journal, Obituaries," 2017. Accessed on January 31, 2020. https://obits.reviewjournal.com/obituaries/lvrj/obituary.aspx?n=virginia-beckley-richardson&pid=186410075&fhid=12178
Preferred Citation
Beckley Family Photograph Collection, approximately 1891-1982. PH-00148. Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.
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Acquisition Note
Materials were donated in 1982 by Virginia Beckley Richardson; accession number 1982-007.
Processing Note
In 2020, as part of a backlog elimination project, Ryan DiPaolo described the materials, entered the data into ArchivesSpace, and wrote the finding aid.