Oral history interview with Kelly Benavidez conducted by Maribel Estrada Calderón on January 29, 2019 for the Latinx Voices of Southern Nevada Oral History Project. Laurents Bañuelos-Benitez also participates in the questioning. Kelly Benavidez is originally from San Francisco, California. Benavidez arrived in Las Vegas after her family spent two years in Mexico so her and her brother could learn Spanish. Benavidez and her family have remained in Las Vegas ever since. Kelly attended Area Technical Trade School for hotel management, and was then recruited by Mesa State College in Colorado. She currently works for Commissioner Lawrence Weekly. Her list of community involvement is extensive: Las Vegas-Clark County Library District Board, the Fernando Vargas Foundation, Las Vegas Latin Chamber of Commerce, Hispanics in Politics, Latina Network, among others. Subjects discussed include: Las Vegas, Commissioner Weekly, New York New York construction accident, and Spanish Language.

Interviewed by Maribel Estrada Calderón. Farmersville is described as a small town between, Exeter and Visalia, California populated by Mexican American farm workers. It is in this small town, where UNLV History Professor Maria Raquél Casas spent her childhood raised along with her sisters and brothers. In her interview, Dr. Casas describes how growing up in this small town with her traditional Mexican family influenced the person she is today. While working alongside her family in the fields, Dr. Casas decided that she would strive to obtain an education. Through hard work and constant support from her sister, Dr. Casas attended Fresno State, where she discovered her love for history. Upon completing her undergraduate program, Dr. Casas made the decision to further her education by pursuing a master's at Cornell University. At Cornell, she faced discouraging professors who believed she would not be able to complete the master's program let alone pursue a PhD program. Despite these demoralizing professors, Dr. Casas completed her program and was admitted into University of California Santa Barbara's history program. Dr. Casas never forgot her roots or the significance of her presence in the majority white academic spaces she attended during her academic journey. When she arrived at UNLV, she continued to strive for more Latino representation in both the student population and in the school faculty. During her tenure at UNLV, Dr. Casas has served as an advisor for multiple Latino student organizations including MEChA and SoL. Dr. Casas has witnessed much progress in Latino representation at UNLV, but she believes there is still much work left to be accomplished.

In this interview, Gil Shaw recalls milestones at Congregation Ner Tamid?first bat mitzvah?and anecdotes about leaders, first rabbis, donation by Moe Dalitz, services being held in Protestant churches, and even a controversy over colors for the new temple building of Ner Tamid.

On November 30, 1986, collector Patton Alberti interviewed Ruby Canonic Leavitt (born 1907 in Genoa, Nevada) at her home in Reno, Nevada. Mrs. Leavitt discusses her time as a teacher in Verdi, Nevada, as well as other places in Northern Nevada. She also discusses the changes she has seen in teaching and in the towns she has lived in over time.