Las Vegas Mayor Oran K. Gragson, his wife Bonnie with film star Gene Kelly. Pictured L-R: Gene Kelly, Mrs. Bonnie Gragson, and Mayor Oran K. Gragson. The location where the photograph was taken is unknown. Oran Kenneth Gragson (February 14, 1911 – October 7, 2002) was an American businessman and politician. He was the longest-serving mayor of Las Vegas, Nevada, from 1959 to 1975. Gragson, a member of the Republican Party, was a small business owner who was elected Mayor on a reform platform against police corruption and for equal opportunity for people of all socio-economic and racial categories. Gragson died in a Las Vegas hospice on October 7, 2002, at the age of 91. The Oran K. Gragson Elementary School located at 555 N. Honolulu Street, Las Vegas, NV 89110 was named in his honor. Eugene Curran "Gene" Kelly (August 23, 1912 – February 2, 1996) was an American dancer, actor, singer, film director, producer and choreographer. He was known for his energetic and athletic dancing style, his good looks, and the likeable characters that he played on screen. Best known today for his performances in films such as An American in Paris (1951), Anchors Aweigh (1945), and Singin' in the Rain (1952), he was a dominant force in musical films until they fell out of fashion in the late 1950s. His many innovations transformed the Hollywood musical and he is credited with almost single-handedly making the ballet form commercially acceptable to film audiences. Kelly received an Academy Honorary Award in 1952 for his career achievements. He later received lifetime achievement awards in the Kennedy Center Honors (1982), and from the Screen Actors Guild and American Film Institute. In 1999, the American Film Institute also numbered him 15th in their Greatest Male Stars of All Time list.
The Muriel Stevens Papers (1969-2006) consist of materials documenting Stevens' career as a television cooking show host and newspaper columnist in Las Vegas, Nevada. Newspaper articles, correspondence, ephemera, certificates, and photographs provide information about her career, and to a lesser extent, her personal life. The collection also includes publications and records documenting the Nevada State Dairy Commission and the Las Vegas hospitality industry. The Video Recordings series consists mainly of episodes of the Muriel Stevens Show.
Oral history interviews with Florence McClure conducted by Joanne Goodwin on January 24, 1996 and February 06, 1996 for the Women's Research Institute of Nevada (WRIN) Las Vegas Women Oral History Project. McClure begins her interviews by discussing her family experiences growing up during the Great Depression. McClure then describes her early career working for the Illinios Department of Public Welfare, her travels around the country with her husband, and eventual settling in Las Vegas, Nevada. McClure then talks about the League of Women Voters, the fight for passage of the Equal Rights Amendment, and her experience lobbying. McClure also discusses one of her most well known achievements: the creation of the Community Action Against Rape (Rape Crisis Center) and the process of founding the center.
The Las Vegas Land & Water Company Records from the Las Vegas Valley Water District (1918-1989) are primarily comprised of contracts, correspondence, and maps that document the establishment of a water distribution system in Las Vegas, Nevada that would provide water using the state's Colorado River allocation. The records include water main extension agreements, correspondence, and bills of sale for water main construction, as well as articles and correspondence documenting the groundwater shortage in Las Vegas. The collection also includes maps for water distribution systems and pipelines throughout the Las Vegas Valley.
The Las Vegas and Tonopah Railroad Blueprints consists of twenty-four of the original thirty blueprints as part of the Interstate Commerce Commission (I.C.C.) Valuation Index Section I. They are labeled "Right-of-Way & Track Map, Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad" and dated June 30, 1915. The blueprints contain four miles of railroad lines per sheet with a scale of 6 3/4 inches per mile. The collection also includes one sheet from the Bullfrog Goldfield Railroad company, which used the track, yard, and facilities of the Las Vegas and Tonopah and Railroad company between Beatty and Goldfield, Nevada.