Oral history interview with Louis Baluyut conducted by Kyle Baluyut in November 2021 for the Reflections: The Las Vegas Asian American and Pacific Islander Oral History Project. In this interview, Baluyut discusses his early life in the Philippines, immigrating to the United States by enlisting in the U.S. Navy. He recalls his experiences travelling around the country and internationally, and how life in other places compares to Las Vegas, Nevada.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Ava Carino conducted by Isabelle Rice on November 20, 2021 for the Reflections: The Las Vegas Asian American and Pacific Islander Oral History Project. In this interview, Carino recalls their experience as a Filipino American growing up in Las Vegas, Nevada. They discuss working in the gaming industry, past traumatic experiences, and their family's immigration story. Please note the following disclaimer: This interview contains language or content that some may find offensive or triggering. Please contact special.collections@unlv.edu for further information.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Angela Tampol conducted by Isabelle Rice on November 20, 2021 for the Reflections: The Las Vegas Asian American and Pacific Islander Oral History Project. In this interivew, Tampol shares her experiences as a Filipina American living in the Bay Area of California and since 2018, Las Vegas, Nevada. She discusses her thoughts on beauty standards for Asian women, living in the Philippines for a short time for education, and her involvement in the Bruha Baddies community. She also shares her experience (or lack thereof) of racism as a person of color.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Jelaine Velasco conducted by Angela Tampol in November 2021 for the Reflections: The Las Vegas Asian American and Pacific Islander Oral History Project. Velasco describes her early life in California, and the different processes that her parents went through to become citizens after immigrating from the Philippines to the United States at different times. She explains her thoughts about what being "Asian American" means and how growing up in California gives her a unique perspective although she still experiences racism and microaggressions.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Isabelle Rice conducted by Angela Tampol in November 2021 for the Reflections: The Las Vegas Asian American and Pacific Islander Oral History Project. In this interview, Rice discusses her childhood in moving around the United States as a child in a military family until settling down in Las Vegas, Nevada in 2018. She reflects on the concept of a "model minority" and shares her experiences with racism and stereotypes that surround that idea. Rice also reflects on her memories of Taiwan, her grandparents, and her family.
Archival Collection
The Don Hannah Big Band Music Manuscripts (approximately 1950-1990) contains musical arrangements primarily tailored for popular musicians such as Paul Anka, Gladys Knight, Natalie Cole, Sergio Franchi, Guy Mitchell, Diahann Carroll, and Elvis Presley. Also included in the collection are a number of Don Hannah’s original compositions.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Alice Key conducted by Claytee D. White on August 16, 2007 for the African Americans in Las Vegas: a Collaborative Oral History Project. In this interview, Key talks about her birth in Kentucky, upbringing in Riverside, California, high school graduation in 1928 and enrollment at UCLA. She describes at length her entry into the entertainment business as a dancer in 1929, her work and travels with dance companies, and her decision to retire in 1937. She continues discussing the roots of her political activism in Los Angeles, her journalism career, her work to end restrictive covenants, racism in Hollywood hiring, and poor representation for Black dancers in the industry. She then explains what prompted her move to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1954 and describes the levels of racism and inequality in Las Vegas during this period. She remarks on many notable Las Vegas leaders, including Dr. Charles West, Dr. James McMillan, Mabel Hoggard, Woodrow Wilson, and others. She also discusses the role of the NAACP, her work as a deputy registrar of voters, and creating the first all-Black television show in the country: Talk of the Town.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Bruce Anderson conducted by Claytee D. White on October 03, 2007 for the All That Jazz Oral History Project. In this interview, Anderson discusses his career as a jazz musician. He begins by talking about his upbringing in Evansville, Indiana, his early interest in being a musician, his family's involvement with music through their church, learning to play the piano and the clarinet from an early age, completing high school and later enlisting in the United States Air Force, where he was able to grow and extend his skills as an ensemble musician. He describes leaving the armed forces and returning to Indiana, moving soon after he received a job offer in Las Vegas, Nevada in 1973. He continues, talking about the wide range of venues he played, from conventions to high-end nightclubs, and closes by discussing the many different musicians and influences he met throughout his life.
Archival Collection
Nevada Public Radio (KNPR) radio documentary entitled ""Las Vegas: Mississippi of the West or Promised Land?" hosted by William J. Drummond and Faith Fancher that aired on June 24, 1991. In this two-part series, the hosts and a variety of guests discuss racial segregation in Las Vegas, Nevada's past and the racial climate of the city in 1991. Guests include, but are not limited to, Peter Lyn Hayes, Joe Williams, Roosevelt Fitzgerald, Eugene Moehring, James West, Eric Cooper, Sarah Knight Preddy, and Frank Hawkins.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Inez and Edward Harper conducted by Claytee D. White on July 18, 1996 for the African Americans in Las Vegas: a Collaborative Oral History Project. In this interview, the Harpers talk first about their upbringing and education in Fordyce, Arkansas. Inez Harper explains how she came to Las Vegas, Nevada at the age of sixteen with her first husband in 1953; Edward Harper explains that he came two years later, working in construction until his marriage to his first wife and moving to Los Angeles, California in 1957. The couple met after his return to Las Vegas in 1960 and married in 1962. Together they discuss employment opportunities, income, the living conditions on the Westside and the entertainment venues on Jackson Street. They also remark on their perspective of race relations and discrimination in Las Vegas in the 1960s and 1970s.
Archival Collection