Abstract
The Archie and Zora Grant Papers document the lives of Archie and Zora Grant from 1918 to 1973. Materials include scrapbooks, clippings, correspondence, records, certificates, and awards pertaining to Archie’s career in the Nevada Legislature, the State Board of Education, Las Vegas Housing Authority, and Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce.
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Scope and Contents Note
The Archie and Zora Grant Papers document the lives of Archie and Zora Grant from 1918 to 1973. Materials include scrapbooks, clippings, correspondence, records, certificates, and awards pertaining to Archie’s career in the Nevada Legislature, the State Board of Education, Las Vegas Housing Authority, and the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce. The collection features letters from Archie to his mother, Mary Grant, during his time with the AEF in France during World War I. One scrapbook, compiled by Zora Grant, documents her work as president of the Nevada Federation of Women's Clubs in the 1940s.
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
Archie Clement "A.C." Grant, Las Vegas businessman and politician, was born in 1894 in Ely, Minnesota. He moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, in 1928, where he opened a Ford dealership. He became a member of the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce in the early 1930s and eventually became its president. He was also part of the group that started the annual Helldorado Days parade.
In 1947, he became chairman of the newly formed Las Vegas Housing Authority, a position he held for 20 years. Under his leadership, manufacturing plants used during World War II were transferred to private ownership. He created the Las Vegas Valley Water District after having the water lines from Lake Mead routed to Las Vegas.
Grant was also active in Nevada politics. Before the legalization of gambling in 1931, Grant helped shape the legislation that would eventually legalize gaming. Grant was also a member of the State Repeal Convention that voted in favor of ending Prohibition in 1933. He ran unsuccessfully for governor of Nevada twice, but he served as a state assemblyman and state senator for one term each. He also served as a delegate from Nevada to the Democratic National Convention.
In 1952, Grant was elected to the office of University of Nevada Regent. He was the first regent from Southern Nevada. While in office, Grant pushed for the establishment of a University of Nevada campus in Las Vegas, and in 1954 Nevada Southern University, which would later be renamed the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, was founded. Archie C. Grant Hall, completed in 1959, was the second building constructed on the UNLV campus and is now UNLV's oldest original building.
Grant married Zora Fay Marble in Minnesota in 1921. He died in 1974.
Zora Grant, born in 1894, served as president of the Nevada Federation of Women's Clubs in the 1940s. She died in 1968.
Sources:
Eugene P. Moehring, The University of Nevada, Las Vegas: A History (Reno: University of Nevada Press, 2007), 6-15.
F. Andrew Taylor, "Grant Hall namesake had crucial role in creation of UNLV," Las Vegas Review-Journal. July 3, 2014. http://www.reviewjournal.com/life/las-vegas-history/grant-hall-namesake-had-crucial-role-creation-unlv
Find a Grave. November 20, 2017. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/97541177/zora-e.-grant
My Heritage. November 20, 2017. https://www.myheritage.com/names/archie_grant
Preferred Citation
Archie and Zora Grant Papers, 1918-1973. MS-00137. Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.
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Acquisition Note
Materials were received periodically from 1976 to 1990; accession numbers are 1976-120, 79-187, and T-25.
Processing Note
In 2017, as part of an archival backlog elimination project, John A. Heldt rehoused and arranged the materials, and revised the collection description to bring it into compliance with current professional standards.
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Separated Materials
Some of the photographs in this acquisition were removed from the collection and placed in Archie C. Grant Photograph
Collection, 1914-1968. PH-00016. Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.