Gertrude (n?e Rightman) Rudiak was born in 1915 in North Dakota to Russian immigrants. She grew up in Wisconsin until 1924. That was the year the family drove to California via the Yellowstone Trail, a dusty, undeveloped road marked by yellow stones. In Los Angeles, her father practiced chiropractic, a holistic approach to well-being for which there was little knowledge at the time. Gertrude earned her music degree at University of California at Berkeley; a decision that did not lead to a career. She then attended a business college and got a job as a social worker in Northern California. In 1941, she met and soon married George Rudiak. It was the advent of World War II. George enlisted in the service and was assigned to Las Vegas Gunnery School (Nellis Air Force Base.) Since he had a law degree from University of California at Berkeley and passed the Nevada Bar exam, he found supplemental employment with local attorneys. Las Vegas became the Rudiaks? permanent home where they raised their five children. In this interview Gertrude recalls the stories of coming to live in Las Vegas of the 1940?s: their phone number was 1-2-3; the neighborhood they lived in longest being Scotch 80s and being part of the secular and Jewish communities.
Collection is comprised of Ffolliott "Fluff" LeCoque's professional and personal papers (1879-2015), documenting her life and career working as a dancer and later as company manager for Las Vegas entertainment productions; most notably the long-running Jubilee! show produced by Donn Arden for the MGM Grand and Bally's Hotel-Casinos. Materials include personal letters, drawings, professional papers, newspaper clippings, photographs, magazines, commericially produced sheet music, and related ephemera.
The Irma McGonagill Photograph Collection (1870-1925) consists of thirty black-and-white photographic prints, ten postcards, and fourteen photographic negatives showing Irma McGonagill and her family in Tonopah, Nevada during the mining boom. The images depict the town of Tonopah, mines around the Tonopah area, homes in Tonopah, and the McGonagill family.
The John Janney Photograph Collection on Pioche, Nevada contains photographs of mining operations and townspeople in Pioche, Nevada from 1908 to 1934. The photographs are primarily panoramic views of the town, mines, and landscape around Pioche, where Janney was president of Pioche Mines Consolidated until his death in 1967. The photographs also depict the baseball field in Pioche, a train crossing the desert in Lincoln County, and the Lee Family.
The Hank Harrison Photograph Collection on Helldorado Days contains two black-and-white photographs of the Helldorado Days festival in Las Vegas, Nevada from approximately 1940 to 1977. The first photograph depicts a rodeo clown distracting a bull; the second photograph is of Ned Romero, an actor in Helldorado.
The Valerie Pida Trust Records (1987-1993) are comprised of records documenting efforts by Edward "Ted" Quirk, an attorney and a board member of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) Foundation, to establish a trust for Valerie Pida, a UNLV student who had battled Hodgkin's lymphoma since the age of thirteen. Pida was a student at UNLV from 1985 to 1991 and was a cheerleader for the Runnin' Rebels basketball team. The records include correspondence, newspaper clippings, financial statements, and receipts that document the establishment and activities of the foundation, which operated until 1993.
The UNLV Libraries Collection of Lady Luck Gaming Corporation Promotional Materials and Reports includes annual reports, financial reports, press kits, press releases, and promotional materials for the Lady Luck Gaming Corporation in Nevada, Colorado, Iowa, Mississippi, and Missouri, dating from 1993-1995.
The Russ Freeman Television Music Manuscripts contains music manuscripts and production materials from Russ Freeman's work on various television specials, dating from 1969 to 1977. The collection includes music scores for television soundtracks including Feliciano! Very Special which aired on the television network NBC and Shirley MacLaine Show which aired on CBS. Russ Freeman is featured in this collection as composer and arranger for many of the soundtracks and was featured as a pianist on soundtracks for The Clifton Davis Special, Flip Wilson Specials, and The Don Rickles Show. Freeman's compositions and arrangements for the television shows were recorded in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The Ruthadele Stearns Doyle Lathrop Personal Papers (1900s-1991) contains scrapbooks, slides, and matted competition photographs created by Ruthadele Stearns Doyle Lathrop, a photographer and ballroom dancer. The scrapbooks include photographs of Ruthadele’s family, travels, and ballroom dance competitions, as well as newspaper clippings and other ephemera. The slides and matted photographs consist mostly of Western landscape scenes, including California and Nevada.