Gwendolyn K. Walker arrived in North Las Vegas in 1962 from Houston, Texas, as a five-year-old with her parents, two brothers, and her cousins. The Walker family at first moved to a rented house on D Street, and Gwen attended Kit Carson Elementary School for first grade. Her mother enrolled in nursing school, so she sent Gwen back to Delhi, Louisiana, to be raised by her grandmother. In Delhi Gwen picked cotton with her aunt while she was in the second grade. Gwen returned to North Las Vegas to live with her mother and complete elementary school at Jo Mackey before matriculating to J. D. Smith Elementary School for junior high school and then to Clark High School. Later she attended UNLV. Gwen and her mother joined Saint James Catholic Church at H Street and Washington Avenue, but after she returned from Delhi she joined Second Baptist Church, where she became close with a cohort of friends that remained strong even as she experienced racism and bullying and love for the first time.
This ability to greet each day with a challenge has laid the foundation for a long history of success for Elaine McNamara as she has navigated through local beauty pageants, an illustrious real estate career, serving on the Las Vegas-Clark County Library board during their decade of expansion to authorship. Her story of resilience starts when she became ill at approximately seven or eight with erythema nodosum that impeded her ability to walk for five months when she started collecting pictures of movie stars. Her favorite movies were any of Roy Rogers, Abbott and Costello, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. Her family moved to Las Vegas, where she attended Las Vegas High School as well as UNLV majoring in elementary education and minoring in language arts. While she attended high school, she studied modeling in the evenings to help overcome her shyness and to become more outgoing. Becoming more involved with local and state beauty pageants, she met the likes of Phyllis Diller, Natalie Wood,
From the Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas, OH-01039. On March 25, 1981, collector Sonny Neighbors interviewed his mother, Margo Knowles (born October 13th, 1935 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa) at her home in Las Vegas, Nevada. Margo speaks about growing up and going to school in Las Vegas. She also discusses her work as a telephone operator in Las Vegas, and at the Nevada Test Site in Nye County, Nevada.
On March 19, 1980, Alice Brown interviewed Dr. William Carlson (born 1914 in Sandstone, Minnesota) about his experience working at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). Carlson, who joined UNLV in 1957, provides his accounts on the history of the university library. The first part of the interview involves a discussion of the beginnings of the library from the location of Las Vegas High School to Maude Frazier Hall and its eventual move to Archie Grant Hall. Carlson also talks about some of the first librarians who were a part of the library, the funding and donations used to build and develop it, and the eventual construction and architecture of the James R. Dickinson Library. The two also discuss the first graduation of the university, the work it took to get students registered for classes in early days, and some of the overall changes over the years at the university.
Transcript from interview with Jocelyn Oats by John Grygo. Oats came to Las Vegas with her family and grew up on the Westside. Her father was a leader in the community and a founder of Victory Baptist Church. Her mother provided child care for people in the community. Oats works with Nevada Partners and the Youth Employment for Summer (YES), and reflects on the community in Las Vegas.
Steve Drappo interviews Mildred Breedlove (b. 1904) who was born in Coal Hill, Arkansas. Breedlove relocated to Nevada in 1949. During this interview Breedlove discusses her personal experience of owning her own ranch in Nevada.
Audio clip from interview with Jocelyn Oats on November 20, 2012. In the clip, Jocelyn talks about the beginnings of Nevada Partners, and her work with the teenaged youth of Las Vegas in the 1990s.
Shipping Ore at Tonopah, NV. Tonopah RR (3) 4-wheel cabooses 11, 9; D & RG 66 2-8-0 (BLW 5098-1880). Three engines in view: Tonopah RR 2-6-0; D & RG 66, unknown diamond stack loco. (ext. right) Stamp on the front of the photo reads: "J. E. Stimson, Artist, Cheyenne, WYO. 896" Stamps on the back of the photo read: "Mallory Hope Ferrell P. O. Box 2837 Peachtree City, GA 30269." and "Publication of this photo must give credit line to the Wyoming State Archives, Museums, and Historical Department."
Tonopah, NV. (1905) 3 n.g. Tonopah trains at left (center). Stamps on the back of the photo read: "Mallory Hope Ferrell P. O. Box 2837 Peachtree City, GA 30269." and "Publication of this photo must give credit line to the Wyoming State Archives, Museums, and Historical Department."
Tonopah Railroad Depot (1905). Stamp on front of photo: "J. E. Stimson, Artist, Cheyenne, WYO. 897" Stamps on the back of the photo read: "Mallory Hope Ferrell P. O. Box 2837 Peachtree City, GA 30269." and "Publication of this photo must give credit line to the Wyoming State Archives, Museums, and Historical Department."