First arriving in Las Vegas as an infant, Cheryl Leonard's young life included a brief sojourn in Southern California before returning to Las Vegas in 1954. After attending local elementary and middle schools, she started at Rancho High during the day, and working at the Huntridge theater in the evenings and during the summers. More than just work, though - in this interview, Cheryl recalls school activities from parades to pep club, participating in Helldorado, hanging out with her friends at the Blue Onion and shopping on Fremont Street. After graduation, Cheryl returned to California to attend school before coming back to Las Vegas and taking a job with the Central Telephone Company. This was followed by a brief stint working at the Nevada Test Site before she married in 1964 and concentrated on raising her own daughters in a rapidly growing and changing Las Vegas.
This collection is unprocessed; see the access note for additional information. The Robert Scott Hooper Photographs (approximately 1960-2019) consist of photographic negatives, positives, prints, Polaroids, 16mm films, videos, business records, correspondence, drawings, and ephemera. The collection was created by prolific photographer Robert Scott Hooper and his longtime business partner and wife, Theresa Holmes. The couple's life and business was based in Las Vegas, Nevada. Hooper's work focused on the female form, encompassing many areas of interest including sexual entertainment, modeling, pornography, and Las Vegas entertainment. Hooper was a contributing photographer with Playboy and Vegas Visitor magazines. Hooper also photographed many celebrities, Las Vegas production shows, notable events like hotel implosions, and the development of the Las Vegas Strip, including early time-lapse work on the Luxor Hotel and Casino and The Venetian. This collection also includes business records, model contracts, and correspondence.
The Fayle Family Papers (1895-1998) document the family's personal and business interests in Goodsprings, Nevada and Las Vegas, Nevada. The collection contains mining documents, business records, and photographs from Leonard Fayle’s work with the Las Vegas Valley Water District, where he documented reservoirs, dams, and both abandoned and functioning mines. The photographs also include family members, vacations, and Southern Nevada fraternal organization pictures.
The Edith Giles Barcus Family Papers document the lives and work of three related individuals who lived in Goldfield, Nevada: noted mining engineer Edwin S. Giles who settled in Goldfield in 1907, his daughter Edith Giles who was raised in Goldfield, and Clyde Barcus, also a mining engineer, who came to Goldfield in 1923 and married Edith Giles soon thereafter. The papers date from 1848 to 1979 and document the business and personal lives of two generations of the Giles-Barcus family in Goldfield and Las Vegas, Nevada. The collection includes: property, commercial, financial, and mining records; mining and engineering reports; notes on minerals; correspondence; and photographs of the family, Goldfield, and travel shots of the western United States.
The Fayle Family Photographs depict the Fayle Family in Southern Nevada and California from 1888 to 1990. The photographs primarily include family photographs of Leonard Fayle, Anna Louise Trapnell Fayle, Leonard Fayle’s parents George Fayle and Jean Henderson Fayle, Leonard Fayle’s siblings George Arthur Fayle and Jean Nevada Fayle, and Leonard and Anna Fayle’s children Jane and Edward Fayle. The photographs also depict the Nevada towns of Las Vegas, Goodsprings, and Jean, including railroad operations, mining, milling, and hauling freight. The collection includes a leather-bound photograph album containing images of the Fayle Family and the Yount Family.
Interviewed by Rodrigo Vazquez, Monserrath Hernández, and Barbara Tabach. Sylvia Alvarado talks about growing up in North Las Vegas and her Catholic upbringing in a Mexican household. Her studies in Journalism & Media Studies led her to her career as a radio host on English and Spanish-speaking programs. She also talks about speaking "pocha" Spanish and the Latinx influence in radio programming.
On March 18, 1978, collector Bill Hitchcock interviewed Della Coates (b. June 17th, 1919 in Birmingham, Alabama) at her home in Las Vegas, Nevada. In the interview, Della Coates discusses her time working for the telephone company. She also speaks about the changes in education and about changes throughout Las Vegas.
Oral history interview with Laura Sussman conducted by Barbara Tabach and Claytee D. White on March 15, 2018 for the Remembering 1 October Oral History Project. In this interview, Laura Sussman, co-owner of Kraft-Sussman Funeral & Cremation Services, discusses the funeral home's role during the aftermath of the October 1, 2017 Las Vegas, Nevada mass shooting. She talks about the collaborated efforts of the funeral home and the coroner's office to care for the deceased, giving some details on the role of a coroner and the specific cases the funeral home was in charge of. Along with the victims, she discusses the potential cremation they were asked to do of the shooter. Throughout the interview, Sussman emphasizes the funeral home's goal of providing support to the families of the deceased.
Congregation Bet Knesset Bamidbar or ‘Congregation in the Desert” is the largest age 50-and-over Jewish congregation in the Las Vegas Valley. It was founded in 1990 and meets in Sun City, Summerlin. BKB is a traditional reform temple.
With services in the heart of community, BKB grew under the leadership of Rabbi Hershel Brooks. Its membership peaked to over 1,100 members in 1999.