On March 5, 1980, collector Robbin McLaurin interviews three members of the Jones family, Willie, James, and Jamet Jones (born 1923, 1920, and 1961, respectively) in the Jones home. Mr. and Mrs. Jones were born in Forest, Mississippi, and relocated to Las Vegas, Nevada, for employment related purposes. This interview covers Las Vegas, past and present.
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Oral history interview with Juliana Urtubey conducted by Nathalie Martinez and Barbara Tabach on May 24, 2021 for the Latinx Voices of Southern Nevada Oral History Project. Born in Colombia, Julia was able to immigrate with her family to the United States when she was six years old. The family lived in Chicago, Illinois and later in Phoenix, Arizona. Juliana moved to Las Vegas in 2013 and taught learners with special education needs at the elementary level. In 2021, she was named the National Teacher of the Year, the first Latina and the only Nevadan to ever hold the distinction. Juliana personally received the award from Dr. Jill Biden. Subjects discussed include: Colombia, Chicago, Illinois, National Teacher of the Year, and bilingual education.
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Oral history interview with Benilda Long Somes conducted by Vincent Long on November 29, 2021 for Reflections: The Las Vegas Asian American and Pacific Islander Oral History Project. Benilda discusses her life in Magalang, Philippines and her immigration to Saipan, part of the Northern Mariana Islands, as a young woman. She talks about meeting her partner, airman Robert Long, the birth of their son, and Robert's untimely death in an air crash less than a year later. Benilda shares how she and her child immigrated to the United States to be with family and their move to Las Vegas, Nevada in 2009.
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Oral history interview with Jeanettee L. Del Rosario conducted by Alessandra Del Rosario on December 6, 2021 for Reflections: The Las Vegas Asian American and Pacific Islander Oral History Project. Jeanettee Del Rosario talks about her family life with nine siblings and her upbringing in Urdaneta City, Pangasinan province, Philippines. She shares her educational background in hotel and restaurant management and, after immigrating to Las Vegas, Nevada in 2006, the different hotel positions she has held in the city. Jeanettee Del Rosario discusses the process of immigration, language barriers, and missing her family in the Philippines. She also talks about Filipino traditions of respect, barangay fiestas, cultural foods, and religion.
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Oral history interview with Astrid Silva conducted by Monserrath Hernández and Barbara Tabach on April 22, 2019 for the Latinx Voices of Southern Nevada Oral History Project. Astrid Silva was born in Gomez Palacio, Durango in 1988. She immigrated with her mother to the United States in 1992, where they were met by her father before flying to Los Angeles. She recounts her first impression of the United States and her families eventual move to Las Vegas, where she describes her time living in Las Vegas' west side and struggles she faced being an undocumented student living in Las Vegas. She describes her first meeting with Senator Harry Reid and the friendship that developed afterwards. She has spoken at the Democratic National Convention and has been vocal about her status as a Dreamer. She is currently the Executive Director for DREAM Big Nevada which was established in 2017 in order to provide aid to Nevada's immigrant families. She writes about her hopes for Dreamers and her continued work in expanding the ways that immigrant families can be helped in an always changing political climate. Subjects discussed include: DACA, Dreamers, Immigrant Rights, and Higher Education.
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Folder from the Flora Dungan Papers (MS-00193) -- Series 4. University of Nevada Regents Material.
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The Kim Sisters, composed of three sisters, Sook-ja, Ai-ja, and Mia, came from Korea to Las Vegas in February 1959. Their first contract in America was to perform at the Thunderbird Hotel for four weeks as part of the China Doll Revue, the main showroom program. This engagement led to a successful career. Their popularity reached was at its height at the end of the 1960s when they performed throughout the United States and Europe. Sook-ja Kim is the oldest of the sisters. After his sister Ai-ja died in 1987, Sook-ja teamed up with her two brothers and continued to perform until 1989. Now semi-retired from show business, with occasional performances in Korea, she is working as a real estate agent. In this interview, she talked about her childhood, her career, and the family she has built since coming to America. Sook-ja was born in 1941 in Seoul, Korea as the third child of seven in a musical family. Her father was a conductor and her mother, a popular singer. After the Korean War, her mother arranged to send the Kim Sisters to America. When they came to Las Vegas, there were virtually no Koreans in the area. They depended on each other to take care of themselves. Some of the difficulties they had to adjust to in American were language, food, and cultural differences. Over the span of almost forty years in America, Sook-ja became acculturated without discarding her ethnic identity of family priorities. Her life-long guiding principle has been to adopt certain American values while continuing to keep her cherished Korean ethnic values. Through their performances, the Kim Sister informed the audience about Koreans and their culture. As the oldest of the group, Sook-ja was entrusted the care of her sisters, and later her brothers, the Kim brothers. Once she settled in Las Vegas, she brought more than forty members of her extended family to the city, contributing to the growth of the Las Vegas Korean community.
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Oral history interview with Joy Rineer conducted by Claytee D. White on December 07, 2017 for the Remembering 1 October Oral History Project. In this interview, Rineer discusses her upbringing in Las Vegas, Nevada. She describes her career as an architect, designing the Resilience Center for those affected by the 1 October shooting, and the city’s response to the shooting. Later, Rineer describes helping the grief-stricken city through architecture, establishing the Leadership Las Vegas program, and organizing blood drives. Lastly, Rineer discusses the changes in Las Vegas after the tragedy.
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Oral history interview with Kaku Makino and Masako "Julie" Ishitsuka conducted by Kristel Peralta, Vanessa Concepcion, Ayrton Yamaguchi, and Stefani Evans on March 22, 2021 for the Reflections: The Las Vegas Asian American and Pacific Islander Oral History Project. In this interview, Makino discusses his early life in Tokyo, Japan and becoming a chef. He recalls arriving to the United States in 1989, establishing the Todai (now Makino Sushi & Seafood Buffet) restaurant chain, and opening nineteen locations in California, Florida, and in Hawaii. Kano talks about her upbringing in Otsu, Shiga Prefecture, Japan and describes Japan during the Meiji era. She remembers arriving to Las Vegas, Nevada in 2000 and the cultural change she experienced. Lastly, Makino and Kano discuss the restaurant industry during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Oral history interview with Hernando Amaya conducted by Laurents Banuelos-Benitez, Marcela Rodriguez-Campo, and Barbara Tabach on October 18, 2018 and December 3, 2018 for the Latinx Voices of Southern Nevada Oral History Project. In this interview, Hernando Amaya talks about his childhood and education in Bogota, Colombia. He discusses his start in journalism as a young man and working for El Espectador, the Colombian national newspaper. He discusses his experiences reporting on the narco-terrorism occurring in Medellin, Colombia and how this eventually led to his immigration to the United States. Amaya moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 2001 and continued his career in journalism by working for local Spanish speaking papers and websites. He relates his civic involvement in the Las Vegas area, his work as the president of the Colombian Association of Las Vegas, and various other civic engagements. As a journalist, he asserts the importance of knowing one's culture, storytelling, learning history, and being active in the community.
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