Abstract
The Clyde F. Merrick Photographic Slides (approximately 1971-1979) contain color photographic slides taken by Clyde F. Merrick, longtime resident of Las Vegas, Nevada. The majority of slides in this collection depict signs for different businesses around Las Vegas including the Las Vegas Strip and the Westside. Some of the businesses documented in this collection includes Fong's Garden, Leon's Shear Magic Beauty Salon, Lucas and Son's Antiques, Dick's Tricky Trikes, Mohan's Custom Tailors, the Twenty Grand Club, Owens TV Repair, and Caesars Palace. The collection also documents a variety of different types of businesses around Las Vegas including bars and nightclubs, beauty salons, car washes, gas stations, and restaurants. Merrick was also a car racing hobbyist and a number of slides in this collection depict what is presumed to be the Las Vegas Speedrome racetrack (later known the Las Vegas Motor Speedway). This collection also includes photographs of locations outside of Las Vegas and Southern Nevada.
Finding Aid PDF
Date
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Scope and Contents Note
The Clyde F. Merrick Photographic Slides (approximately 1971-1979) contain color photographic slides taken by Clyde F. Merrick, longtime resident of Las Vegas, Nevada. The majority of slides in this collection depict signs for different businesses around Las Vegas including the Las Vegas Strip and the Westside. Some of the businesses documented in this collection includes Fong's Garden, Leon's Shear Magic Beauty Salon, Lucas and Son's Antiques, Dick's Tricky Trikes, Mohan's Custom Tailors, the Twenty Grand Club, Owens TV Repair, and Caesars Palace. The collection also documents a variety of different types of businesses around Las Vegas including bars and nightclubs, beauty salons, car washes, gas stations, and restaurants. Merrick was also a car racing hobbyist and a number of slides in this collection depict what is presumed to be the Las Vegas Speedrome racetrack (later known the Las Vegas Motor Speedway). This collection also includes photographs of locations outside of Las Vegas and 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 are arranged loosely by topic.
Biographical / Historical Note
Clyde F. Merrick, longtime resident of Las Vegas, Nevada, was born on July 8, 1943 to Clera Estah DeVoll Fosie. He graduated from Union High School in Tempe, Arizona in 1961 and entered the U.S. Air Force at the age of 19 and trained in electrical engineering and worked on a team that tracked the first Apollo mission from Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands. After his military service, Merrick settled in Las Vegas, Nevada and worked for Reynolds Electrical and Engineering Company (REECo) as an electronics technician at the Nevada Test Site (NTS) where he maintained computers as part of the nuclear weapon testing program.
Merrick eventually left his job at NTS and began a career as a taxi cab driver in Las Vegas in the 1970s and then later began working in real estate at the age of 70. Merrick was a photography hobbyist and it is presumed that he took photographs of businesses around the Las Vegas Valley as a way to help small businesses market and promote their businesses.
Clyde F. Merrick died from cancer on August 23, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Sources:
Donna Hough, email message to author, April 2, 2023.
Find a Grave. "Clyde F. Merrick." Accessed March 31, 2023. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/199864535/clyde-f-merrick.
"November rites to wed Miss Long, C. Merrick,"
Preferred Citation
Clyde F. Merrick Photographic Slides, approximately 1971-1979. PH-00449. Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.
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Acquisition Note
Materials were donated by Donna Michele Hough in 2023; accession number 2023-021.
Processing Note
In 2023, Tammi Kim organized and rehoused the collection and created the finding aid in ArchivesSpace.
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Administrative Information
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EAD ID
Appraisal Note
Acquired by Visual Materials Curator, Aaron Mayes, as part of UNLV Special Collections and Archives holdings in Las Vegas and Southern Nevada. All material that formed the original gift has been retained.