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Greg Phelps oral history interview
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Oral history interview with Greg Phelps conducted by Claytee D. White on November 15, 2017 for the Remembering 1 October Oral History Project. Greg Phelps discusses moving to Las Vegas, Nevada in 2002 for work and attending the 2017 Route 91 Harvest festival with his mother and wife. He describes the event venue as well as his recollection of the shooting. Phelps explains how his life changed after that day, describing the true friendships he gained and his greater appreciation for living.
Archival Collection
Fateen Seifullah oral history interview
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Oral history interview of Fateen Seifullah conducted by Claytee D. White on October 28, 2020 for African Americans in Las Vegas: a Collaborative Oral History Project.
Fateen Seifullah was born in Compton, California and was surrounded by gang culture from a very early age. As a teenager when he and his family moved to Las Vegas in the early 1980s, he began participating in gang activity. Fateen describes his knowledge about gang operations, drug "rules," and prison time. He also discusses his participation as a Muslim mosque leader in the Historic Westside Las Vegas, his "Iman" (faith and beliefs), and his work in the past decade to push gang activity and drug use out of the community.
Subjects discussed include: Compton, California; drug culture; Muslim philosophy; Iman; and Code of Justice.
Archival Collection
Jennifer Lanahan oral history interview
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Oral history interview with Jennifer Lanahan conducted by Jerwin Tiu on September 11, 2023 for Reflections: the Las Vegas Asian American and Pacific Islander Oral History Project. Born in Daegu, South Korea, Jennifer Lanahan fondly remembers her childhood growing up in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Lanahan had been adopted at a young age and grew up aware of this fact, but never felt different from her family because of it. Her father, with Irish roots, was a retired military sergeant for the U.S. Air Force. While her mother, with German roots, spent her time volunteering at veterans hospitals. Lanahan spent a majority of her life in Green Bay, eventually obtaining a degree at the University of Wisconsin, Green Bay in Spanish with a minor in linguistics. Shortly after, Lanahan moved to Hawaii to obtain a masters degree in Spanish but pivoted to earning a degree in legal studies at Arizona State University. Growing up in a predominately white community, Lanahan recalls having complex feelings about her Asian heritage. However, after moving to Hawaii for a year and then eventually Las Vegas, Nevada in 2012, she began to embrace her Asian heritage and engage more in different aspects of her Korean culture. After obtaining her law degree from the Boyd School of Law at UNLV, Lanahan went on to work as a litigation attorney for a few years. She now works as a lobbyist and serves as a board member for the Las Vegas AAPI Chamber of Commerce.
Archival Collection
Larry Ruvo oral history interview
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Oral history interview with Larry Ruvo conducted by David G. Schwartz on January 27, 2009 for the Remembering Jay Sarno Oral History Project. Ruvo begins by discussing his position as a front desk clerk at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada in the 1970s. Ruvo then describes how Jay Sarno changed the casino industry by designing Caesar’s Palace with a single theme. Ruvo then chronicles how gaming gradually was legalized in more areas throughout the world and how Sarno capitalized on making Caesar’s Palace an iconic casino which made people want to travel to Las Vegas. Lastly, Ruvo discusses Sarno’s focus on offering both gaming and entertainment options for guests at Caesar's Palace.
Archival Collection
Michael Arage oral history interview
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Oral history interview with Michael Arage conducted by Dalton DuPré on November 12, 2021 for Reflections: The Las Vegas Asian American and Pacific Islander Oral History Project.
In this interview, Michael Arage discusses his upbringing in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), Ontario, Canada with his sister and his Filipino-Palestinian heritage. He talks about how his parents immigrated to the United States, his life and education in Toronto, and his relocation to Los Angeles, California where he married his wife. Michael Arage shares how the couple moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 2012 when his wife started a job at Zappos. Because he lacked a work visa, Michael Arage began playing poker and working in sports betting. In 2019, he founded a community organization to support the people of Palestine, called Nevadans for Palestinian Human Rights. Michael Arage talks about his activism efforts, anti-Arab racism, his cultural upbringing, and of Filipino and Arabic foods and customs. He also shares his views of living in Las Vegas, the difficulties of raising a child away from her cousins, and differing governmental policies and healthcare between Canada and the United States.
Archival Collection
Helen Smith oral history interview
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Oral history interview with Helen Smith conducted by Emily Powers on March 04, 2008 for the Heart to Heart Oral History Project. Smith discusses working as a nurse at Southern Nevada Memorial Hospital, which is now the University Medical Center, and for the Nevada State Industrial Insurance System. She also talks about the Eighth Street Hospital, St. Rose de Lima Hospital in Henderson, Nevada, and Sunrise Hospital.
Archival Collection
Sennes Family oral history interview
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Oral history interview with the Sennes family conducted by Claytee D. White on November 18, 2011 for the Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project. In this interview, Frank Sennes Jr., Jerry Sennes, and Luanne Sennes Glenn discuss their father, Frank Sennes Sr., and his life and career as an entertainment director. They describe their early lives traveling with their father to various states before eventually moving to Las Vegas, Nevada during the 1950s, where Sennes Sr. became the entertainment director for the Desert Inn Hotel and Casino and the Moulin Rouge. They talk about their father's personal history, his work with Donn Arden, and the various celebrities they met through their father.
Archival Collection
Anna Peltier oral history interview
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Oral history interview with Anna Peltier conducted by Stefani Evans and Claytee White on August 19, 2016 for the Building Las Vegas Oral History Project. Peltier discusses Aria Landscape Architecture, of which she is the owner and president with clients that included Lorenzi Park, MOB Museum, Neon Museum, and the Cactus Avenue overpass. She also talks about edible landscape, plants that work well in the desert environment, and teaching children about the desert.
Archival Collection
Kay Rodriguez oral history interview
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Oral history interview with Kay Rodriguez conducted by Irene Rostine on November 14, 1997 for the Women's Research Institute of Nevada (WRIN). Rodriguez discusses moving to Las Vegas, Nevada from South Dakota to get a divorce in 1959. Rodriguez describes working as a waitress at the Dunes and the Riviera and making a new life in Las Vegas. She discusses her work in the real estate industry and the challenges of being a working mother. Rodriguez also talks about opening her own real estate office, and the demographics of the real estate industry during the 1960s.
Archival Collection