Documenting the African American Experience in Las Vegas, Nevada Web Archive is comprised of archived websites captured primarily in 2017 that are related to UNLV University Libraries community documentation project, "Documenting the African American Experience in Las Vegas." Archived websites represent religious institutions, civic and service organizations, and local businesses in the Las Vegas Valley. The collection includes archived websites of organizations like the local NAACP branch, the Urban Chamber of Commerce, Westside School Alumni Foundation, 100 Black Men of Las Vegas, National Coalition of 100 Black Women, the First African Methodist Episcopal Church, and the Psi Upsilon Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.
Oral history interview with Ida Browder Kelley conducted by Dennis McBride on April 21, 2004 for the Las Vegas Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Archives Oral History Project. In this interview, Kelley discusses how she met the former Lieutenant Governor of Nevada, Fred S. Alward, through her mother, who was active in politics. Kelley talks about her own thoughts about Alward, including the type of person he was and how he carried himself. Kelley later describes her own experience in politics including attending session meetings and campaigning.
Gay Pride at Sunset Park, 1998. Photographer: Dennis McBride. Mike Spadoni at the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association, southern California chapter booth. (4-25-98)
Oral history interview with Valorie J. Vega conducted by Laurents Bañuelos-Benitez on November 19, 2018 for the Latinx Voices of Southern Nevada Oral History Project. In this interview, Vega discusses her upbringing in Van Nuys, California. She describes her father’s employment with the Los Angeles County Fire Department, her attendance at California State University, Northridge, and majoring in Spanish with a minor in Chicano studies. Vega recalls entering a master’s program for Spanish interpretation, moving to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1978, and becoming a supervisor for court interpreters. Later, Vega talks about enrolling in law school at the University of Southern California (USC), working as a Clark County deputy attorney, and later becoming a judge. Lastly, Vega discusses her experience being a female Hispanic judge, and her involvement with the Huellas Program at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV).
Oral history interview with Pat Spearman conducted by Lisa McAllister on March 03, 2016 for the African Americans in Las Vegas: a Collaborative Oral History Project. In this interview, Spearman discusses her experiences in the military and becoming a minister at United Methodist Church in Las Vegas, Nevada. She describes what it was like to serve in the military as a gay woman and telling church members about her sexuality. Spearman then talks about the African American gay community in Las Vegas and the intersectionality of race, class, religion, sexuality, and politics. Lastly, Spearman discusses her plans to get re-elected as a Nevada State Senator.
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.
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).
The collection is comprised of captured websites and Twitter data related to the mass shooting that occured at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 1, 2017. Captured websites are primarily comprised of articles and news stories from local, national, and international news media outlets. Websites were captured periodically from 2017 to 2018. The collection also includes Twitter data associated with the October 1 shooting that were captured via concurrent queries to the Twitter API for all Tweets containing the term “vegas” occuring September 29, 2017 to October 7, 2017. Also included are files containing tutorials for how to curate and analyze Twitter data which reference the 1 October Twitter dataset for illustrative purposes.