Abstract
The UNLV December 6, 2023 Memorial Collection (2023-2025) contains material documenting the response to the deadly shooting on UNLV's Maryland Parkway campus on December 6, 2023. The collection contains items left at spontaneous memorials, such as handwritten notecards, small religious tokens, bracelets, teddy bears, and artificial flowers. Also included in the collection are videos of the UNLV vigil service held on December 13, 2023, archived UNLV websites, and condolence items sent to campus administration. Additionally, two members of the UNLV community donated their personal photographs and journal entries relating to the day of the shooting.
Finding Aid PDF
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Scope and Contents Note
The UNLV December 6, 2023 Memorial Collection (2023-2025) contains material documenting the response to the deadly shooting on UNLV's Maryland Parkway campus on December 6, 2023. The collection contains items left at spontaneous memorials, such as handwritten notecards, small religious tokens, bracelets, teddy bears, and artificial flowers. Also included in the collection are videos of the UNLV vigil service held on December 13, 2023, archived UNLV websites, and condolence items sent to campus administration.
In the days and weeks following the tragic event, two spontaneous memorials were created on the Maryland Parkway campus. The materials and the memorials themselves were eventually gathered by UNLV Special Collections and Archives staff and included in this collection. Additionally, two members of the UNLV community donated their personal photographs and journal entries relating to the day of the shooting.
Access Note
Collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
This material is made available to facilitate private study, scholarship, or research. Material in this collection may be protected by copyright, trademark, privacy, publicity rights, or other interests not owned by UNLV. Users are responsible for determining whether permissions are necessary from rights owners for any intended use and for obtaining all required permissions. Please contact UNLV Special Collections and Archives (special.collections@unlv.edu) for additional information.
Arrangement
Materials remain as they were received.
Biographical / Historical Note
At approximately 11:30am on December 6, 2023, Tony Polito arrived at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Marlyand campus and entered Frank and Estella Beam Hall where he murdered three UNLV faculty members. Cha Jan "Jerry" Chang and Patricia Navarro-Velez, both faculty members at Lee Business School, and Naoko Takemaru, a Japanese Studies professor at the College of Liberal Arts, were killed. A fourth faculty member was severely wounded. After killing and wounding faculty members, the gunman exited Beam Hall and was killed by University Police Southern Command in an exchange of gunfire. Campus was locked down until police could secure the scene and confirm there was no longer a threat. Classes were cancelled for the remainder of the week, and in-person classes and finals for the rest of the semester were eventually cancelled due to the physical and emotional trauma the campus suffered.
Preferred Citation
UNLV December 6, 2023 Memorial Collection, 2023-2025. UA-00146. Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.
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Acquisition Note
Some materials were donated by members of the University of Las Vegas, Nevada campus community in 2024 and 2025; accession numbers: 2024-005, 2024-008, 2024-018, 2024-025, 2024-026, 2024-027, 2024-058, 2024-064, 2024-067, 2024-078, 2025-110, 2025-115. Specific donors are noted at the file level of this inventory. Additional material was gathered by UNLV Special Collections and Archives staff from campus memorials.
Processing Note
In 2024, Sarah Jones accessioned and processed the physical and digital material in the collection, created the finding aid in ArchivesSpace. Tammi Kim archived the websites using Archive-It and updated the finding aid. In 2025, Landon Paljusaj accessioned the 2025 addition and Sarah Jones rehoused the physical material, created an access copy for the digital file, and updated the finding aid. In 2026, after reviewing miscellaneous donated materials, Landon Paljusaj added one item to the collection and updated the finding aid.
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Appraisal Note
The original acquisition included 0.5 linear feet of additional notecards left at memorials that were removed due to rain damage. Staff retained a sampling of notecards with messages that were washed away, but the majority of items with damage were discarded. All notecards with any amount of legible writing were retained.