Oral history interview with Gene Noboru Nakanishi conducted by Ayrton Yamaguchi, Cecilia Winchell, and Stefani Evans on April 2, 2021 for Reflections: The Las Vegas Asian American and Pacific Islander Oral History Project. Gene Nakanishi shares his detailed family history from both his father's and his mother's families. He discusses his paternal grandfather's work on the Union Pacific Railroad, the family's internment in Wyoming during World War II, and his father's release from the camp by joining the United States Army Signal Corps. Nakanishi also talks of his maternal grandfather who was of the Bushido ("warrior") class in Osaka, Japan, and his grandfather's work with Christian missionaries. He shares details of his mother's restaurant employment in Los Angeles and her opening of Osaka Japanese Bistro in Las Vegas in 1969. Nakanishi also talks about being born and raised in Las Vegas, his musical schooling at Berklee College of Music in Boston, and his graduate education at Harvard University. He discusses his work as a band teacher for the Clark County School District, his involvement in the Idyllwild Arts Summer Program band camp, and his interests in jazz music.
Helen Jane Wiser Stewart was born in 1854 in Springfield, Illinois. When she was nine years old, the family moved to Nevada, and then to Sacramento, California in 1863. Helen was educated in Sacramento and in 1873 she married Archibald Stewart in Stockton, California.
The Jay Sarno Photograph Collection (1947-1983) contains photographs from hotel and casino developer Jay Sarno. The photographs primarily depict Sarno and his family. The photographs also depict some of Sarno's development projects, including Circus Circus, Caesars Palace, and the Grandissimo. The photographs depict construction of the hotels, events, and famous figures.
The Marjorie Barrick Museum of Natural History Records (1939-2003) detail the creation of the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Natural History in Las Vegas, Nevada founded by Richard H. Brooks, a professor of anthropology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The records are comprised primarily of correspondence between Brooks and members of the Southwestern Anthropological Association (SWAA), the Society for California Archaeology (SCA), and the meetings and exhibitions of the Nevada State Museum. The collection also contains financial statements that describe expenses for supplies, research, and excursions. Also included are anthropological, archaeological, and historical publications, as well as administrative files and Richard Brooks' correspondence with the Nevada Archaeological Survey (NAS). The collection also includes architectural floor plans for the Classroom and Physical Education, the original space that was converted into the museum in 1980, and plans for the redesign of the Barrick Museum and the Harry Reid Environmental Research Center addition.
The Ferron and Bracken Photograph Collection depicts Southern and Central Nevada and other western states from 1890 to 1961. The photographs primarily depict the development and growth of early Las Vegas, Nevada; mines and mining operations in Southern and Central Nevada; towns and mines in Nevada; and the Hoover (Boulder) Dam and the Colorado River.
The Lake-Eglington Family Photograph Collection contains photographs of the Lake-Eglington Family in and around Las Vegas, Nevada from 1900 to 1976. The materials include photographs of early Las Vegas resident Olive Lake-Eglington and her family shortly after they moved to Las Vegas in 1904, as well as her eventual husband Earle Eglington after he moved to Las Vegas in 1911. The materials also include photographs of Native American artifacts, schools in Clark County, Nevada, artesian wells, the Hoover (Boulder) Dam, the Colorado River, Mt. Charleston, the Mormon Fort, the Stewart (Kiel) Ranch, the Las Vegas Ranch, and many early residents of Las Vegas.