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Paul H. Bowerman oral history interview
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Abstract
Oral history interview with Paul Bowerman conducted by Frances Harelik on March 05, 1976 for the Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas. In this interview Bowerman provides insight into life in Las Vegas, Nevada from 1954 to 1976. Bowerman discusses weather, wildlife, and interesting recreational sites in Nevada.
Archival Collection
Retta Decker oral history interview
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Oral history interview with Retta Decker conducted by Andrea Edwards on November 01, 1985 for the Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas. Decker discusses her personal history including working as a nurse, and her historical perspective on nursing.
Archival Collection
Robert W. Maichle oral history interview
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Oral history interview with Robert W. Maichle conducted by John Klenke on March 12, 1981 for the Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas. Maichle discusses life in Searchlight, Nevada and Boulder City, Nevada. Maichle then discusses societal changes throughout Southern Nevada, specifically with the growth of gambling.
Archival Collection
Louise McGuire oral history interview
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Oral history interview with Louise McGuire conducted by Heidi Nickum on February 26, 1979 for the Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas. In this interview, McGuire talks about the history of the Las Vegas police department and hotels since the 1950s in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Archival Collection
Claytee D. White oral history interview
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Oral history interview with Claytee D. White conducted by Jessica Avila Pifferrer on December 01, 2014 for the African Americans in Las Vegas: a Collaborative Oral History Project. In this interview, White discusses her career as the Director of the Oral History Research Center at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) Libraries. She describes why she moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1992, enrolling in the American History master's program at UNLV, and participating in the Women in Gaming and Entertainment project. She talks about memorable interviews she has conducted, including interviews with the African American community of Las Vegas.
Archival Collection
Don E. Hayden oral history interview
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Oral history interview with Don E. Hayden conducted by Steve Cohen on March 01, 1979 for the Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas. This interview offers a historical overview of the education system in Nevada. Don also discusses gambling, the early atomic tests, the first hospitals built in Las Vegas, and offers his own personal account on home and family life in Nevada.
Archival Collection
Olenda Purdy oral history interview
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Oral history interview with Olenda Purdy conducted by Mark Miller on March 12, 1981 for the Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas. In this interview, Purdy discusses her experiences living in Las Vegas, Nevada. She specifically talks about her family history, gambling in Las Vegas, and the changes in the Las Vegas economy and environment since the 1960s.
Archival Collection
Derrick Fronckowiak oral history interview
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Oral history interview with Derrick Fronckowiak conducted by Patricia van Betten October 26, 2010 for the History of Blue Diamond Village in Nevada Oral History Project. In this interview, Fronckowiak discusses living in Blue Diamond, Nevada and describes the house he grew up in at the village. He talks about the fire department in the community and other public buildings around the area. Lastly, Fronckowiak discusses the development of Blue Diamond and the preservation of the rural areas in Blue Diamond.
Archival Collection
Claytee D. White oral history interview
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Oral history interview with Claytee D. White conducted by Stefani Evans on November 2, 2023 for the African Americans in Las Vegas: a Collaborative Oral History Project. In this interview, Claytee D. White, founding directory of the Oral History Research Center at UNLV Libraries, celebrates the twentieth anniversary of the OHRC by contributing her oral history to the collection.
She begins by explaining how the system of sharecropping worked in her family near rural Ahoskie, North Carolina, and she talks about the field work involved in raising cotton, tobacco, corn, and peanuts. The fifth of eight children and the first daughter, she shares memories of going into town with her mother, of admiring her women teachers, and of attending North Carolina Central College (now University) for two years before moving to Washington, D.C., and working for the telephone company.
After recalling her two years in D.C. and 22 years in Los Angeles, California, she describes "running away" to Las Vegas, Nevada in the early 1990s. Here, at the History department at UNLV, she recalls learning to conduct oral histories. White shares memories of her first interviews with Hazel and Jimmy Gay and Lucille Bryant. She talks of matriculating to the College of William and Mary for her PhD and of returning to Bertie County to live with her mother and administer the office of The Shaw University Center for Alternative Programs in Education (CAPE). She describes how she was offered the position of OHRC founding director, why it matters that she was an "opportunity hire," and how it feels to be the only Black person in a room.
Archival Collection
Virgil Brownlee oral history interview
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Oral history interview with Virgil Brownlee conducted by Patricia van Betten on May 02, 2012 for the History of Blue Diamond Village in Nevada Oral History Project. In this interview, Brownlee discusses his personal history and living at the Blue Diamond Village, Nevada in the late 1930s. Brownlee describes the homes that were built in the Village, joining the U.S. Air Force in 1949, and living in Bonnie Springs, Nevada.
Archival Collection