The James Cashman Sr. Photograph Collection (approximately 1905 to 1975) consists of black-and-white photographic prints, negatives, slides, and albums as well as a glass plate negative. The photographs depict four major subjects: Cashman's family, friends, and associates; Cashman's businesses; the Hoover Dam and Colorado River; and various locations across Nevada.

The Ray Cutright Collection of Winthrop A. Davis Photographs (approximately 1929-1939) consists of black-and-white photographic prints with some corresponding negatives and slides of the construction of Hoover Dam and the geographic terrain of southern Nevada during the early 1930s. Included are photographs of the geographic area around the dam site, Black Canyon, and Boulder City, Nevada. Photographs depict the construction of facilities and roads needed for the project.

The Beckley Family Photograph Collection (approximately 1891-1982) consists of black-and-white photographic prints and negatives and color photographic slides. The images depict the Beckley family, their businesses in southern Nevada, and Las Vegas, Nevada as the city developed during the first half of the twentieth century. Also included are images of airplanes at the first Las Vegas airport Anderson Field, later renamed Rockwell Field in 1925, Fremont Street in Las Vegas, and postcards of mining towns across southern Nevada.

The Frank D. Rathbun Photograph Collection dates from approximately 1915 to 1968 and consists primarily of black-and-white photographic prints and some corresponding negatives taken by Frank D. Rathbun and Michael Moen, who resurveyed the various sites Rathbun visited. The majority of the images depict petroglyphs located throughout the desert southwest in Nevada, California, and Arizona, as well as documentary images of the construction of the Los Angeles Aqueduct and the Hoover Dam transmission lines. Additional material includes postcards from areas Rathbun visited in California, Arizona, and Nevada.

The Stella Champo Iaconis Collection of Helldorado Photographs (approximately 1934-1940) contains four black-and-white photographic prints of the Helldorado Days celebration held in Las Vegas, Nevada. Images depict people celebrating at the Apache Bar in downtown Las Vegas.

The Franklin M. Murphy Photograph Collection, dates from approximately 1929-1933 and consists of black-and-white photographic prints with 27 corresponding negatives. The majority of the images show locations in and around the current site of Hoover Dam and Lake Mead in southern Nevada and Arizona with a focus on the geology of the area; a smaller number show individuals and locations in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The Milton Norman Photograph Collection (1943-1970) consists of black-and-white photographic prints and negatives taken by City of Las Vegas Code Enforcement officer Milton Norman. The images were recorded as part of a survey of substandard residential dwellings built in the then racially segregated communities of the Westside and Vegas Heights in Las Vegas, Nevada.