The MacDonald Ranch Development Records (1972-2010) contain correspondence, maps, land assessments and investigations, master plans, architectural drawings, civil drawings, and landscape drawings primarily detailing the community development process of MacDonald Ranch, one of the oldest master-planned communities in Henderson, Nevada.
The Maurine and Fred Wilson and Dr. William S. Park Audiovisual Collection (approximately 1900s-1970s) consist of audiovisual material created by the Wilson and Park families. The materials depict the Park homes in Las Vegas, Nevada; Park and Wilson family members; outdoor activities and vacation trips to California, Colorado, and Mexico. The collection also documents early views of the Kiel Ranch in Las Vegas, Nevada, community parades and events, and early views of Las Vegas in the 1920s.
The Robert Woodruff Papers (1927-2001) are comprised of materials documenting Woodruff’s career and family life in Las Vegas and Henderson, Nevada, as well as his travels around the United States and abroad. Materials include newspaper clippings, photographic prints and transparencies, personal correspondence, and publications such as Las Vegas tourist brochures and pamphlets dating from the 1930s and 1940s. Visual materials include portraits, city scenes, and landscapes throughout Nevada and the United States, as well as some photographs of international travels.
The Barbara Raben Collection on the Las Vegas Jewish Community (1976-2018) is comprised of materials collected by Barbara Raben that document her personal life and her involvement with the Las Vegas, Nevada Jewish community, specifically the Hadassah Southern Nevada Chapter and the Jewish Family Service Agency (JFSA) of Clark County, Nevada. Hadassah and JFSA records consist of photographs and programs from events held by the organizations. Materials also document Raben's business, The Candy Factory, and her connections to the Florence Melton School of Adult Jewish Learning.
The MGM Mirage Corporation Records date from 1970 to 2010 and consist of the records of the Las Vegas, Nevada based global entertainment company. The collection contains organizational records, employee newsletters, files about the MGM Mirage diversity and inclusion initiative, correspondence, reports on gambling addiction, gambling statistics, press clippings, and audiovisual materials. There are also photographs, photographic slides, and photographic negatives of performers, corporate executives, and MGM Mirage properties.
The Junior League of Las Vegas Records (1940-2023) contain annual reports, fundraising information, training manuals, articles, minutes, photographs, scrapbooks, cookbooks, and other operational and working files that document the activities of the Junior League of Las Vegas (JLLV). Also included is documentation for advocacy projects the JLLV was involved with, such as Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.), Safe Haven, the Ronald McDonald House, Read Aloud, and Literature Awareness Program for Children. Other records in this collection document JLLV's fundraising efforts such as the Repeat Boutique, Holiday Coffees, annual benefits, luncheons, and sales of their cookbooks. Also included are scrapbooks and issues of their newsletter The Sage.
Sandra Peña’s story begins in East Los Angeles, where she spent her first fifteen years with her parents (both from Michoacán, Mexico), and her younger sister. The father's managerial position at Master Products allowed the family to live rent-free in a company-owned house behind the main factory, because he collected the rents for the company's two other dwellings. In this interview, Peña recalls the family move to Porterville, in California's Central Valley, her return to Los Angeles at nineteen, and her work with Parson’s Dillingham, a contractor for the Metrolink rail system. She draws the link between the Los Angeles and Las Vegas construction communities by describing her husband's move to Las Vegas to find work; a chance Las Vegas encounter with a friend from Chino, California; her ability to gain employment in Las Vegas at Parson’s, a company that had joint ventured with Parson’s Dillingham, and her move from there to Richardson Construction, a local minority-owned company. As Peña says, "It's kind of all intermingled. Even if you go here and you go there, it's like everybody knows everybody." Throughout, Peña weaves her family story into the narrative as she describes her youth, the birth of her son, the illness and death of her father, and her family's participation in her current employment with Richardson. As she remembers the people, places, and events of her life, Peña speaks to the ways one woman of color built on her interstate construction connections and rose in a male-dominated industry.
A resident of Southern Nevada from the age of three, Susan Watson shares her memories of growing up and living in Las Vegas. After a year in Boulder City, Susan's father bought an old army barrack and converted it to a home in North Las Vegas; Susan remembers playing in the desert with her siblings and attending elementary and middle school before starting at Rancho High. Watching her mother design costumes for Strip performers and beautiful dresses for her own high school dances no doubt helped Susan develop her own sense of taste and style - something that she would put to good use over many years as an interior designer. Before that though, Susan shares her memories of what life was like in the Las Vegas of the 1950s and 1960s: cruising Fremont Street; movie nights; after-school work; favorite teachers; lunches on the lawn; and dance club. All combine to paint a vivid picture of a smaller town and a simpler time in the Las Vegas valley.
Oral history interview with Jessica Hutchings conducted by Barbara Tabach on March 21, 2018 for the Remembering 1 October Oral History Project. In this interview, Jessica Hutchings discusses her experience flying to Las Vegas, Nevada on the night of the October 1, 2017 mass shooting. She speaks of her flight's detour to Phoenix, Arizona, and her discovery of the shooting. Hutchings explains how Congregation Ner Tamid, where she is a cantor, contributed to the community healing after the tragedy, including their organization of vigils, a music fundraiser called "Vegas Strong in Song," and discussing the event with teenage Hebrew School students who had questions and concerns about the shooting.