An artist's rendering a building called the Fantastic Fair. The bottom of the photograph reads, "'Fantastic Fair' West San Francisco Ave. At Valley View Blvd. Lessor- Home Investment C2., L.S. Whaley Pres. Lessee- Fantastic Fair Inc., Benson Flanzbaum Pres. Harry Hayden Whiteley A.I.A. and Associates. Architects & Engineers, Las Vegas, Nevada." This was sketched sometime between 1950-1969.

This is an artist's rendering of Fun-Land Amusement Park in Las Vegas, Nevada, for Mr. Sam Pearlstein. Some of the attractions within this sketch includes, "Cafe", "Sports", "Bust-A-Bronc", "Noah's Arc", "Golf", "Rocket Trip", "Electric Racer", "Fun House", "The Big Wild West's How", and "Pool". This was drawn by Harry Hayden Whiteley A.I.A. Architect. The park was established in Las Vegas from 1954-1955. Site Name: Funland Park (Las Vegas, Nev.)

This is a sketch of an apparel shop for Favinger's in Las Vegas, Nevada. This was done by Harry Hayden Whiteley A.I.A Architect. It is signed by "B.W. Powers" in the upper right-hand corner of the sketch. This sketch was drawn sometime between 1950-1969.

Badwater basin in Death Valley. The top sign in the photograph reads, "Bad water-279.6 feet below sea level, lowest point in Western Hemisphere." Stamped on the back of the photograph is, "Natural Color Card from Kodachrome. A Mike Roberts color production. Berkley California. Desert Supply Company, Las Vegas, Nevada."

Peter Gratton was born in 1944 in Staten Island, New York, where his father was in the Coast Guard. However, he spent his childhood in Minnesota. From 1965 to 1969, Peter was a member of the US Marine Corps, serving a tour in Vietnam. As his military duty was ending, he learned that his parents were relocating to Vegas, bringing with them all of Peter's belongings. So Peter caught up with them in Vegas where he transitioned to civilian life in a new city by "bumming around for a couple of months." He decided to stay and took a keno job at Golden Gate Casino. In 1981, he graduated from UNLV and was accredit to teach history and earth science. This proved to be a good background for an opening at the UNLV library and he helped organize the map collection. With that, his UNLV library career was successfully launched. At the time of this interview, Peter was Administrative Assistant III Lied Library Building Department. In the following pages Peter tells of his experiences that lead up to becoming a Las Vegas resident and longtime member of the UNLV library staff.