Oral history interview with Helen E. La Plant conducted by Claytee D. White on October 08, 2003 for the Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project. La Plant begins by discussing her early life in Minneapolis, Minnesota during the 1920s and 1930s and joining the United States Army at the age of twenty-one. La Plant then describes serving in Okinawa, Japan after World War II as a photographer for the Signal Corps. La Plant describes her return from Japan and decision to attend photography school in New York City, New York. La Plant then chronicles her experiences moving to Las Vegas, Nevada in the late 1950s to work at the Nevada Test Site as a photographer. She then recounts the shift from aboveground atomic testing to underground testing and her role as head of the photography department at the Nevada Test Site. Lastly, La Plant talks about entertainment during the 1960s in Las Vegas.
Oral history interview with Flora and Stuart Mason conducted by David G. Schwartz on February 27, 2010 for the Remembering Jay Sarno Oral History Project. Flora Mason begins by discussing the relationship between her family and the Sarnos. Mason describes that she and her husband socialized with Jay and Joyce Sarno in the 1960s because they lived on the same street in Las Vegas, Nevada. Stuart Mason recounts how the Sarnos were incredibly friendly and Jay occasionally invited him to play golf. Mason then chronicles his role as a contractor and the work he did for Jay Sarno throughout his career. He talks about how many of the development ventures of Sarno's were funded by Jimmy Hoffa and the Teamster’s Union. Lastly, Mason discusses how Sarno understood the gaming industry more than any other casino operator and how that was attributed to the success of Caesars Palace.
Oral history interview with Jay C. Sarno Jr. conducted by David G. Schwartz on July 10, 2008 for the Remembering Jay Sarno Oral History Project. Sarno begins by discussing how his parents met in the early 1950s in Miami, Florida and were married within six weeks. Sarno then describes his family moving to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1965 and living in the Dunes Hotel for the first three weeks. Sarno then chronicles his parents’ marriage and their divorce in the 1970s. Sarno then recounts his father’s relationship with Jimmy Hoffa and Allen Dorfman and the visits Hoffa made to Las Vegas to see his father. Sarno talks about the way his father treated him and his brother differently than his sisters. Lastly, Sarno discusses how he and his siblings were surprised their father owed the Internal Revenue Service over one million dollars at the time of his death.
The Hazel Baker Denton Photograph Collection (1910-1961) is comprised of photographic prints and one negative of the Denton family and friends, primarily taken in Nevada and Utah. Many photographs depict life in small Nevada towns, particularly Caliente. Photographs also depict Utah, Oregon, Washington D.C., and California, and unidentified desert and forest landscapes throughout the American West.
The Nevada Division of State Parks Photograph Collection (approximately 1910-1940) contains black-and-white photographic prints and some corresponding negatives that depict state parks and recreational areas throughout southern Nevada. The images also portray Lake Mead, Hoover Dam, Logandale, the Valley of Fire, and Mount Charleston as well as images of actors filming on location in southern Nevada.
The Antonio Morelli Papers include materials spanning from the 1910s to the 1970s that chronicle the professional and private life of longtime Sands Hotel and Casino orchestra conductor and musical director, Antonio Morelli and his wife Helen. The collection includes snapshots from Morelli's early life, three scrapbooks, one box of sound recording tapes, and a box of slides from Thailand. The collection also documents Morelli’s efforts to provide classical music concerts for the Las Vegas, Nevada community and his involvement with the Guardian Angel Church on the Las Vegas Strip.