Interviewed by Monserrath Hernández and Barbara Tabach. Jahaira Farias is a graduate of Western High School, a Marine Corps veteran, and a founder of a local chapter of the Women Marines Association. At the time of this oral history, Jahaira worked for US Congresswoman Susie Lee. Jahaira Farias was born in Las Vegas, Nevada, and grew up on the west side of town. She has summertime memories of her travels to Mexico, where she was able to connect with her family's heritage and language. During her years at Western High School, she participated in varsity sports and was the armed drill team commander. After graduation, Jahaira enlisted into the Marine Corps, where she specialized as a transport operator and hazardous material transporter and served two deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. Her transition to civilian life included work in security at Caesars Palace. When she took a position with as district representative for Congresswoman Susie Lee, her focus was to assist veterans and immigrants. She helped Rep. Lee develop community outreach towards the Latinx community and Veterans. Jahaira is the president of the Las Vegas NV-3 Sagebrush Marines chapter of the Women Marines Association, an organization she helped establish and rebuild. The WMA helps veterans find their footing again through mentoring and support, and conducts community engagement by fostering the same camaraderie found in the Corps. After surviving a motorcycle accident, Jahaira's recovery is nothing short of miraculous, going from being in a wheelchair to competing in Tough Mudder. Now extremely active, Jahaira is an avid hiker and certified yoga instructor, specializing in trauma recovery. A polyglot, Jahaira formally studied Arabic and Russian, and speaks English, Spanish, and Pashto, and received an associate degree in Russian from the College of Southern Nevada.
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The Maria LaCavera Papers (1947-2017) contain the papers of professional dancer Maria LaCavera. The collection documents the career of LaCavera dancing in Las Vegas, Nevada at the Flamingo Hotel in 1947, and the Last Frontier Hotel in 1949 as one of the Ramona Girls dancing in the Danny O'Neil Varieties Act. Materials include photographs of LaCavera and other Ramona Girls, newspaper clippings, correspondence, LaCavera's American Guild of Variety Artists (AGVA) employment contracts, Fabulous Las Vegas magazines, and hotel receipts. Other items of note include photographs of the 1949 Helldorado parade, a Frontier Hotel Ramona Room menu, and Frontier Hotel ephemera. There is also a copy of a self-published biography of LaCavera, written by her daughter-in-law Kristin Meyer entitled From Bon-Air to the Last Frontier. The collection also contains the digital images used to illustrate the book.
Archival Collection
The Yucca Mountain Environmental Safety Collection (1970-2011) consists of reports and impact studies collected by Clark County's Nuclear Waste Division library for documenting Yucca Mountain's potential health and safety risks to Southern Nevada. The reports contain documents pertaining to potential environmental, health, financial, and safety risks from the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository, which is located in Nye County, Nevada. The collection contains scientific and social studies in support of and opposition to the site. The bulk of the collection includes licensing reports, site selection studies, and impact studies from transporting, storing, and handling radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel.
Archival Collection
The collection is comprised of architectural drawings (1952-1997) completed by American architect, Ethan Jennings Jr. and/or his architectural firm, Ethan Jennings Jr., AIA, CSI and includes Jenning's work from the firm of John Badgley, AIA, where Ethan Jennings Jr. worked in Southern California during the 1950s, as well as work Jenning's completed with Americo Inc., and Tolosa Group. The collection contains 217 sets of drawings, 6 boxes of project records, and 8 flat files of oversized material from over 200 different projects primarily located in California with some projects located in the Las Vegas area. The materials feature hand-drawn architectural drawings, ranging from preliminary sketches to construction documents. The drawings also contain work from consultants, engineers, and other architects who collaborated on the development of the various projects. The drawings include: commercial, industrial, professional, civic, residential, and religious buildings of varying scales, such as libraries, apartments, warehouses, office developments, schools, military buildings, churches, and custom single-family homes located throughout California and Las Vegas. The drawings also include a number of additions, remodels, and renovations. The collection also contains project records like structural calculations and drawings, project manuals and specifications, bid documents, and professional correspondence.
Archival Collection