Oral history interview with Julio Lucchesi conducted by an unidentified interviewer on December 21, 2001. Luchessi discusses his decision to become an architect, as well as his desire to become an aviator. He reads extensively from his autobiography in progess, of his education, his time in the Army Air Corps during World War II, and his decision to move to Nevada. He also talks about the formation and development of the American Institute of Architecture (AIA) in Nevada, his efforts to change the exam process for new architects in the state, and the eleven-year struggle to establish a school of architecture at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Dan McKenzie conducted by Connie Degerness on February 12, 1975 for the Boulder City Library Oral History Project. In this very short interview, McKenzie explains why he came to Nevada from Arizona, finding work on the Hoover Dam construction in April 1930, and then lists all of his subsequent work in maintenance and mechanics during the dam's construction.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Lillian and Lloyd Morrison conducted by Don Morrison on October 20, 1991 for the UNLV Libraries Oral History Collection. The Morrison's talk about the loss of their Iowa farm in the Great Depression and Lloyd's decision to set out for Nevada to seek work at the Hoover dam construction site. He speaks at length about finding work, working on the dam, and an injury suffered in a fall that left him temporarily in a wheelchair. Lillian recalls arriving in Boulder City, Nevada some three years after Lloyd, of various homes the couple and their young son lived in, taking in boarders for extra money, and the growth and contraction of the town's population.
Archival Collection
The UNLV Libraries Collection of Napoleonic Era Prints (approximately 1800-1825) contains a collection of Napoleonic era prints and engravings depicting various figures from the early 19th century.
Archival Collection
The UNLV Libraries Collection of French and Spanish Lotteries and Playing Cards contains hand-painted games and lotteries from France and Spain. Included in the collection "Vida de un Jugador" from Madrid, Spain, as well as "Petit jeu de loterie" and "Nouvelle petite loterie amusante" from France. The collection also contains two sheets of uncut, engraved Piquet playing cards with carciatures of French stereotypes from the French Revolution.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Lois Sagel by Jeff Van Ee on April 4, 2009 for the Voices for Nevada's Environment Oral History Project. In this interview, Sagel describes how her upbringing in Montana and Big Bear, California gave her a deep appreciation for nature and wilderness. She talks about moving to Las Vegas, Nevada as a young wife and mother in 1958, how families would take their children to watch the above-ground nuclear tests at the Nevada Test Site, and how the rapid growth and enroaching development in the city was not matched by planned infrastructure improvements. She explains how her desire to protect Nevada's environment increased as she saw developers moving toward the mountains surrounding Las Vegas, how this pushed her into the environmental justice movement, and her long association with the Soroptimists organization.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Dorothy and Altus E. "Tex" Nunley by Dennis McBride on June 9, 1986 for the Boulder City Library Oral History Project. The interview starts with Tex, who relates how he arrived in Nevada in 1931 as a government "rod man", employed to assist the engineers planning the infrastructure for the construction of Hoover Dam. He discusses the early tent city called "McKeeversville" named after the mess hall cook who pitched the first tent in the area, and the process of building railroad tracks from the Union Pacific spur that ended in what would soon become Boulder City. After this, both speak at length about the details of the dam's construction, Tex's work as a high rigger, the development of Boulder City, and many anecdotes about individuals associated with bost the city and the dam.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Liz Butler conducted by David Schwartz on September 27, 2010 for the UNLV Libraries Oral History Collection. Butler explains that she has worked as a cocktail waitress at the El Cortez Hotel and Casino since the early 1970s. She describes what the casino was like, the types of entertainment, and the less developed nature of North Las Vegas, Nevada during this early period. She also talks about the level of racial prejudice that existed in Las Vegas, something that she compared unfavorably to her hometown of Newark, New Jersey. Finally, she discusses the details of her job, good and bad bosses, problems with customers, and how she deals with underage patrons.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Delon Potter conducted by Eleanor Christoffersen on February 3, 1972 for the Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas. In this brief interview, Potter, a Mesquite, Nevada native, talks about his birth in 1909 and his move to Las Vegas in 1933. He describes the early town and some of the more notable inhabitants including "Pop" Squires, working at the Winterwood Ranch at the base of Sunrise Mountain, as a sheep herder near Kaolin, Nevada, and later as a construction worker at the Hoover Dam. After the war, Potter explains that he tried running his own ranch in Utah before moving back to Henderson, Nevada, working for U. S. Lime and trading horses throughout Nevada, Utah, and Arizona.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Maureen Lewis conducted by Hillery Pinchon on March 17, 2006 for the Hurricane Katrina Survivors in Las Vegas Oral History Project. In this interview, Lewis first describes her upbringing as one of eleven children, raised in the home her father built in New Orleans, Louisiana's Lower 9th Ward, the area of the city hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina. She then begins to describe the events in the days leading up to the landfall of of the hurricane, as she stayed behind in New Orleans with her eldest son and a cousin as most of the family evacuated to Alabama. She relates how she and the cousin were able to leave the city after the initial impact of the storm, but her son was one of the hundreds trapped on an interstate bridge for several days without food or water. She continues talking about the response of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), about people who were forced to commute between Alabama and New Orleans to keep their jobs, sky-rocketing rents, the inadequate state and local response to the emergency, and the strong response of the American Red Cross. She then describes her move to Las Vegas, Nevada with her son, his financee, and their child, and ends with some comments on questions how much racial prejudice played into the tragedy in New Orleans.
Archival Collection