George Albright was born December 06, 1909 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1931. He had a role in creating the building plans for the Hoover Dam, he worked with the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce and the Clark County Board of County Commissioners, and he dealt with planning conventions on various Las Vegas Strip properties. Albright passed away November 08, 1996.
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Oral history interview with Emory Lockette Sr. conducted by Dennis McBride on March 17, 1996 for the Boulder City Library Oral History Project. In the interview, Lockette discusses his work as a draftsman, civil engineer, and hydraulics engineer for the Bureau of Reclamation. He then describes his working conditions at the Bureau of Reclamation and administrative-level conflicts.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Ruth Hazard conducted by John Neal on March 08, 1975 for the Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas. Hazard goes in-depth about her knowledge of municipal politics and her husband’s friendships with a number of Nevada politicians. Hazard also briefly talks about her fascination with the above-ground atomic tests, speakeasies during Prohibition, and local anxieties about Las Vegas, Nevada “losing its identity.”
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Sam S. Earl conducted by Laura Button on March 09, 1981 for the Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas. Earl discusses the family’s early residence in a tent and their religious participation. He also discusses welfare benefits, gambling, the first members of the police force, and the Helldorado parade. Earl then talks about his work on the Hoover (Boulder) Dam, as a building contractor, and as a truck driver.
Archival Collection
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Oral history interview with Clarence Ray conducted by Eleanor L. Walker in 1991 for the African American in Las Vegas: a Collaborative Oral History Project. In this interview, Ray provides details of his ancestry and upbringing, his education, and race relations in the western United States before 1930. He then moves on to his first visit to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1922, and his movements before settling permanently in the 1940s. He explains that the main source of employment for the relatively small Black population during the 1920s and early 1930s was the railroad, but a number were also in business. Mr. Ray provides thumbnail sketches of many of the early residents, and is particularly informative about "Mammy" Pinkston, Mary Nettles, the Stevens family, and the Ensley family. Systemic racial discrimination against Blacks developed in southern Nevada during the 1930s, and Mr. Ray provides some useful details on this along with his discussion of his career in gaming and his social and political activities.
Archival Collection
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Interview with Adele Baratz by Steve McClenachan on March 3 and 4, 1979. In this interview, Baratz talks about growing up in Las Vegas and her her schooling. She graduated from Las Vegas High School in 1944, and discusses the rationing that took place during World War II. She went to Maryland for nursing school and returned to Las Vegas in 1947. She describes some of the hotels and casinos, and tells the story of her father trading property for an automobile in 1935. She also recalls the building of Hoover Dam, swimming in local pools, and going to Mount Charleston in the winter. The interviewer asks her about travel between Las Vegas and California and the impact of Atlantic City on Las Vegas tourism. Baratz then talks about her nursing career and starting a re-certification program in 1974 and the different hospitals in the area.
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Oral history interview with Kim Bird and Pam Fogliasso conducted by Claytee D. White on February 08, 2013 for the Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project. Bird and Fogliasso discuss their experiences growing up in Las Vegas, Nevada, segregation in the city, and their years attending Rancho High School, including the segregation.
Archival Collection