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Mary Hawkins oral history interview
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Abstract
Oral history interview with Mary Hawkins conducted by Bill Murphy on June 22, 1972 for the Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas. In her interview Hawkins discusses her reasons for moving to Las Vegas, Nevada and the developmental changes she has seen occur in Las Vegas.
Archival Collection
Dennis McBride oral history interviews
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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
Claytee D. White oral history interview
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Oral history interview with Claytee D. White conducted by Stefani Evans on November 2, 2023 for the African Americans in Las Vegas: a Collaborative Oral History Project. In this interview, Claytee D. White, founding directory of the Oral History Research Center at UNLV Libraries, celebrates the twentieth anniversary of the OHRC by contributing her oral history to the collection.
She begins by explaining how the system of sharecropping worked in her family near rural Ahoskie, North Carolina, and she talks about the field work involved in raising cotton, tobacco, corn, and peanuts. The fifth of eight children and the first daughter, she shares memories of going into town with her mother, of admiring her women teachers, and of attending North Carolina Central College (now University) for two years before moving to Washington, D.C., and working for the telephone company.
After recalling her two years in D.C. and 22 years in Los Angeles, California, she describes "running away" to Las Vegas, Nevada in the early 1990s. Here, at the History department at UNLV, she recalls learning to conduct oral histories. White shares memories of her first interviews with Hazel and Jimmy Gay and Lucille Bryant. She talks of matriculating to the College of William and Mary for her PhD and of returning to Bertie County to live with her mother and administer the office of The Shaw University Center for Alternative Programs in Education (CAPE). She describes how she was offered the position of OHRC founding director, why it matters that she was an "opportunity hire," and how it feels to be the only Black person in a room.
Archival Collection
Jonathan Sparer oral history interview
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Oral history interview with Jonathan Sparer conducted by Stefani Evans and Claytee D. White on August 29, 2016 for the Building Las Vegas Oral History Project. Sparer discusses his involvement in the Jewish, and LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer) communites, and his career as an architect in Las Vegas, Nevada. He also talks about working on projects that included The Mirage Hotel and Casino, the Congregation Ner Tamid, and The Center (The Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Southern Nevada).
Archival Collection
Aquiles Garcia oral history interview
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Oral history interview with Aquiles Garcia conducted by Claytee D. White on January 10 and February 20, 2015 for the Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project. Garcia discusses the political atmosphere and risks of being gay in Juan Perón’s Argentina in the 1940s, Las Vegas, Nevada life in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and his dual Las Vegas careers as a dancer and a casino dealer throughout the second half of the twentieth century.
Archival Collection
Cheryl Radeloff oral history interview
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Oral history interview with Cheryl Radeloff conducted by Suzanne Becker on July 27, 2006 for the UNLV @ 50 Oral History Project. In this interview Cheryl Radeloff discusses moving to Las Vegas, Nevada to accept a research position at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), then being hired as a graduate assistant for the UNLV sociology department, and finally her involvement with the UNLV Gay Straight Alliance. She also talks about receiving her PhD in 2004 and going to the American Sociological Association Job Employment Fair in 2005.
Archival Collection
Wilma Freemyer oral history interview
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Oral history interview with Wilma Freemyer conducted by Suzanne Haag on February 22, 1979 for the Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas. Freemyer discusses early Las Vegas, Nevada’s history during the 1930's and the
Archival Collection
Lavell Jarrett oral history interview
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Oral history interview with Lavell Jarrett conducted by Robert B. Grzywacz on February 22, 1975 for the Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas. In his interview Jarrett discusses his early life in Utah and his career with the Union Pacific Railroad.
Archival Collection
Larry Cooper oral history interview
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Oral history interview with Larry Cooper conducted by Claytee D. White on March 05, 2018 for the African Americans in Las Vegas: a Collaborative Oral History Project. In this interview, Cooper discusses his early life in Las Vegas, Nevada and growing up in the Westside. He talks about his educational experiences in Las Vegas, attending the Arkansas Agricultural, Mechanical and Normal College (now University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff), and teaching mathematics. Cooper recalls his employment at Southwestern Bell Telephone Company, becoming Vice President of Emerging Markets, and relocating around the United States for work. He remembers moving back to Las Vegas in the mid-2000s, his friendship with civil rights leader Jimmy Gay, and the contributions Gay made for the African American community. Cooper describes Westside businesses, and casinos on Jackson Street. Lastly, Cooper discusses the future of the Westside.
Archival Collection
Frankie Perez oral history interview
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Oral history interview with Frankie Perez conducted by Elsa Lopez and Laurents Bañuelos-Benitez on November 05th, 2018 for the Latinx Voices of Southern Nevada Oral History Project. Perez speaks about the importance of sports, and the lack of Latinx representation in teachers during high school. Perez then discusses being placed on medical hold in the military, how his transition affected his physical tests, how the 2016 election may have impacted transgendered people in the military, and how everyday military personnel feel about transgendered people serving in the military. The interview concludes with Perez discussing the Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, Transgendered, and Queer (LGBTQ) scene in Las Vegas, Nevada and about how culture impacts which clubs members of LBGTQ community would visit.
Archival Collection