Oral history interviews with Thalia Dondero conducted by Suzanne Becker on March 10, 2008 and August 22, 2008 for the Women's Research Institute of Nevada (WRIN) Las Vegas Women Oral History Project. Dondero opens her interviews discussing why she became involved with the Las Vegas, Nevada Parent Teacher Association (PTA) and eventually the Nevada State PTA. Dondero then describes her work with the Girl Scouts and her election campaign for a seat on the Clark County Commission. Dondero also discusses Las Vegas city development and how the city has flooding issues. Later Dondero discusses her membership in the Las Vegas Junior League and her work throughout the state to supervise the living conditions of foster care children. Lastly, she describes her experience as a commissioner working to ensure various goods and services were available to the community.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Hamed Ahmady conducted by Stefani Evans on March 22, 2023 for the Reflections: the Las Vegas Asian American and Pacific Islander Oral History Project. Interviewed by Stefani Evans. Culinary Union Local 226 organizer Hamed Ahmady recalls his childhood as the oldest of six children in Mazar-e Sharif in northern Afghanistan. As an child, he remembers hearing about the September 11, 2001 attack in New York while living in a Taliban-controlled city on a television connected to a concealed antenna that received signals from Uzbekistan. He recalls how, one month after he graduated high school, he became an translator for the U.S. Army, which he did for more than four years. He talks about securing his Special Immigrant Visa (SIV); landing in Los Angeles, California in 2013 and moving his family to the United States; and supporting his siblings and parents in Afghanistan. He also discusses relocating his family from California to Las Vegas, Nevada in 2018, finding a mosque community, and working with Culinary Union Local 226.
Archival Collection
The History of Emergency Medical Services in Nevada Oral History Interviews (approximately 2012-2013) were conducted by Elwood L. Smith and John Kasinger and used for their published work, "Nevada EMS: A History of Emergency Medical Services in Nevada." The interviews were gathered by individuals, groups, and sometimes generations of emergency medical personnel working in the state of Nevada. Every county in the state is represented in the interviews.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with David and Iris Torjman conducted by Barbara Tabach on November 12, 2015 for the Southern Nevada Jewish Heritage Project. Iris discusses moving to Las Vegas, Nevada from the Bronx in New York and meeting her husband. David discusses being a Jewish educator for Temple Beth Sholom. David also talks about working as a card dealer and investing in land.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Peter F. Perazzo conducted by Claytee D. White on July 22, 2016 for the Building Las Vegas Oral History Project. In this interview, Perazzo discusses his personal history and moving from Reno, Nevada to Las Vegas, Nevada in the 1940s. Perazzo talks about his Native American ancestry, his career in land surveying, and how construction and land surveying have changed over the years. He then describes designing public and residential buildings in Las Vegas, and at the Nevada Test Site. Later, Perazzo discusses his employment at the United States Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in 1985 and in 1995 at the Nevada Department of Transportation, where he was involved in many state projects such as the Hoover Dam bypass, Red Rock state road, and freeway widening.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Dr. David A. Price conducted by Wendy Testa on October 22, 2008 for the Public School Principalship Oral History Project. In this interview, Dr. Price reflects upon his more than 30-year career as an elementary school principal in Montana and Nevada from 1970 to 2004. He discusses his upbringing and the process by which he became a teacher and eventually an administrator, and how certain teachers and administrators during his middle and high school years influenced his decision to teach. He describes his approach to education, and his regular job responsibilities as principal. He offers suggestions for individuals interested in pursuing school administration, and compares his salaries from working in Montana to working in Nevada. He also describes different teaching models, and shares his opinion of what aspects he believes are the most effective.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Dr. Carolyn Reedom conducted by Kristina Knebl on November 22, 2006 for the Public School Principalship Oral History Project. In this interview, Dr. Reedom reflects upon her 28 years as a principal in Nevada’s Clark County School District (CCSD). She discusses the process by which she became an elementary school principal, and compares it with when she served as a high school principal. She discusses her approach to school administration, and how her experience as a 27-year old principal of Red Rock Elementary School shaped her career. She also describes her experience with school desegregation, and explains why she believes it was desegregation instead of integration.
Archival Collection
Oral history interviews with Joan Swift conducted by Sue Peterson on March 18, 2004, March 25, 2004, and June 22, 2004 for the Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project. In this interview, Swift discusses life in Las Vegas, Nevada during the 1940s and 1950s. Swift begins the interview by describing her upbringing in the Basic townsite and Boulder City, Nevada, attending Basic High School, and life in Southern Nevada during World War II. She then discusses working in the Clark County Recorder's office, explaining her job duties and what function the office served for the county. Swift continues, talking about recreation activities at the time, including visiting the casinos on the Las Vegas Strip and the Helldorado Parades. Swift discusses nuclear weapons testing at the Nevada Test Site and her career as the Clark County recorder. Lastly, she describes her thoughts on the future of Las Vegas, Nevada.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Gloria Dea Anzalone conducted by Claytee D. White on October 22, 2022 for the Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project. In this interview, Gloria Dea describes her childhood in Oakland, California where she learned the art of magic from her father. Her family moved to Sacramento where Gloria Dea first performed in Breuners Department Store and by age twelve, she was working in nighclubs. Later in Hollywood, Gloria Dea danced in several films and entertained in USO shows. She performed in 1941 at the Last Frontier and the El Rancho - some of the earliest places on what was later the Las Vegas Strip. In the interview, she recalls time serving as president of both the Women's Club of Burbank, Hadassah, and the board of American Guild of Variery Artists.
Archival Collection