The Las Vegas Professional Men’s Club Records (1984-1997) consist of the constitution, meeting minutes, and organizational documents of the Las Vegas Professional Men’s Club, later known as the Las Vegas Men’s Club (LVMC). The LVMC provided a social outlet for gay men in Southern Nevada. The bulk of the materials date from the 1990s and include membership lists, event fliers, promotional materials, financial documents, and information documenting the club’s fundraising activities.
Archival Collection
Oral history interviews with Dennis McBride conducted by Claytee D. White and Stefani Evans on various dates in March, April, and May 2023 for the Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project. McBride goes into detail in this 4-session interview and covers a wide variety of topics, including: the history of Boulder City, working at various cultural institutions in Las Vegas, the evolution of the LGBTQ+ community in Las Vegas, researching his own history and publishing a book, and local advocacy groups. Digital audio available; no transcript available.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Lavern Cummings and Tony Midnite conducted by Dennis McBride on August 29, 2000 for the Las Vegas Gay Archives Oral History Project. In the interview, Cummings and Midnite discuss their work as female impersonators in Las Vegas, Nevada during the late 1960s and 1970s. They also talk about other impersonators and performance venues in Las Vegas and around the United States. They explain the distinctions between transgender and straight performers, and the perceptions of transgender and straight audience members. Other subjects Cummings and Midnite cover include their early lives and arrivals to Las Vegas, and the history of sex reassignment surgeries beginning in the 1930s.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Alan Clancy conducted by Su Kim Chung on February 12, 2015 for the Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project. In this interview Alan Clancy discusses his childhood in Australia, performing all over the world starting at the age of 17, and moving to Las Vegas, Nevada at 21 because he got a contract to dance. Clancy also discusses the celebrities he has performed for, the showgirls he has worked with, gay life in Las Vegas, opening a vintage store with his partner, and his life and career in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Archival Collection
The Stonewall Park Collection (1983-1987) documents the Stonewall Park project, an unrealized gay community in Nevada. Material includes news clippings and ephemera, as well as financial records and ancillary documents detailing bankruptcies and litigation associated with the Stonewall Park project. Much of this material is photocopied from MS 1990-15 (Fred Schoonmaker Papers), held at the Museum of GLBT History in San Francisco, CA.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Jack LeVine conducted by Suzanne Becker on June 28, 2007 for the Voices of the Historic John S. Park neighborhood Oral History Project. LeVine discusses being a real estate agent and a gay man living in Las Vegas, Nevada since moving there in the 1980s.
Archival Collection
The Center Stage, Inc. Records (1994 to 2008) are comprised of photographs, bylaws, correspondence, meeting minutes, publicity, scripts, programs, cast lists, and video cassettes of a number of the productions. Center Stage Theater Inc. was the first LGBT theater company in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Archival Collection
The Fun One Bowling League Records (1987-1997) contain league schedules, membership documents, standing sheets, and other organizational records from the Fun One bowling league, an LGBTQ bowling league that was established in Las Vegas, Nevada in 1985. Fun One was the Las Vegas LGTBQ community's second bowling league.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Laura Sussman and Wendy Kraft conducted by Barbara Tabach on February 17, 2016 for the Southern Nevada Jewish Heritage Project. Sussman and Kraft talk about being business partners in Kraft-Sussman Funeral Home, which caters to the Jewish community. They also talk about the local LGBT community as a lesbian couple.
Archival Collection
The Las Vegas, Nevada Women's Softball Collection (1951-1952) contains photographic prints and negatives depicting a southern Nevada women's softball team. The team was sponsored by Wilson's Texaco Station in Boulder City, Nevada, and the women played in regional games in both southern California and southern Nevada. Photographs in the collection show the team practicing at Peterson Field in Boulder City, and celebrating and spending time together at the Mt. Charleston Lodge. The collection also contains copies of personal accounts written by team member Orpha Alveta Bowman (McBride), who recalls the prejudice some of the lesbian members faced from local community members. The originals of these handwritten accounts are held in MS-01099.
Archival Collection