The Frank Gagliardi Music Manuscript Collection (approximately 1964-1974) contains musical arrangements of standard Frank Sinatra songs, printed or photocopied with annotations. Each part is in its own folder, and each song is numbered. Frank Gagliardi performed as percussionist in Antonio Morelli's orchestra for the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he played for Frank Sinatra and other notable entertainers during the 1960s and 1970s.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Kaweeda Adams conducted by Kim Kershaw on March 05, 2004 for the Public School Principalship Oral History Project. In this interview, Adams reflects upon her career as a teacher in Louisiana from the 1980s to the 1990s, and as a teacher and administrator with Nevada’s Clark County School District (CCSD) from the 1990s to the early 2000s. She discusses her upbringing, and how her upbringing influenced her pursuit of education. She describes the process by which she became a teacher and eventually administrator, and compares her experiences working in Louisiana and Nevada. She discusses how these experiences shaped her philosophy of education, as well as changes that she has observed in the students over time. She describes her regular job duties, as well as challenges that she faced as a school administrator such as teacher dismissal and evaluations.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Delon Potter conducted by Eleanor Christoffersen on February 3, 1972 for the Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas. In this brief interview, Potter, a Mesquite, Nevada native, talks about his birth in 1909 and his move to Las Vegas in 1933. He describes the early town and some of the more notable inhabitants including "Pop" Squires, working at the Winterwood Ranch at the base of Sunrise Mountain, as a sheep herder near Kaolin, Nevada, and later as a construction worker at the Hoover Dam. After the war, Potter explains that he tried running his own ranch in Utah before moving back to Henderson, Nevada, working for U. S. Lime and trading horses throughout Nevada, Utah, and Arizona.
Archival Collection
The Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad Records (1905-1977) contain correspondence, purchase requisitions, bills of lading, freight reports, and waybills. Also included are a ledger book, a rubber stamp, and a booklet, "Diagrams of Locomotives and Tenders." Incorporated in 1904, the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad operated for 35 years, connecting Ludlow, California with Beatty, Nevada by way of Death Valley on the Santa Fe Railroad main line. The records are concentrated on the later years of the railroad from 1930 to 1940.
Archival Collection
The Frank Williams Papers on Early Nevada (1892-1946) consists of manuscripts written for the most part by Frank Williams, an early resident of Southern Nevada. The collection includes Williams' autobiography as well as histories of Goodsprings, Potosi Mine, Mesquite Valley, and the Yellow Pine Mining districts. Finally, this collection contains reports and material reflecting Frank Williams' two terms as University Regent (1909-1912 and 1923-1942) at the University of Nevada, Reno, and his four terms in the Nevada State Assembly.
Archival Collection
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Interviewed by Elsa Lopez. Abraham Gomez is a College Navigator for the Nevada Treasurer's Office where he is responsible for providing and distributing information on post-secondary resources that may enable Nevadans to go to college. Gomez was born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada and grew up on the East Side near Desert Pines High School. He received an Associate of Arts from the College of Southern Nevada before obtaining a bachelor's degree in Communication Studies from the University of Nevada, Reno. After graduating he worked as a GEAR UP Ambassador for Nevada State College where he advised a cohort of 46 low-income students on the importance of continuing their education. He has volunteered with various organizations throughout Southern Nevada and continues to work to better his community and make education accessible to students everywhere.
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Ruth Annette Mills was born and raised in Washington, D.C. She recalls the early years during WWII, her father's cancer and radium treatment under Blue Cross Blue Shield, his passing when she was nineteen, and her marriage that same year. Ruth and her husband and family lived in Georgia, Texas, and Maryland before coming to Las Vegas in 1968. She worked as a typist for the Office of Education at one point and did volunteer work for her church, the Cub Scouts, and the League of Women Voters. She also worked as a clerk-typist for the Clark County School District, and eventually became a teacher through the Teacher Corps program. She graduated in 1975 and was hired to teach 6th grade at CVT Gilbert. The school integration program was just beginning when Ruth was first hired as a teacher. She held the position of facilitator and recalls how angry parents were when they learned their children had to be bussed to sixth grade centers. Having been involved through her church with the Civil Rights Movement in other states, she was disappointed with the racist attitudes she encountered in Las Vegas. Ruth's involvement with health care began when her daughter-in-law developed kidney stones and was denied treatment. In 1993 she started the Nevada Health Care Reform Project through the League of Women Voters in order to support Bill Clinton's health plan. Fifteen years later, over 100 organizations had come on board to support the League's coalition in favor of Clinton's plan, and her fondest wish is that one day Universal Health Care will be available to all Americans.
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Amber Allan grew up in West Virginia and moved to Las Vegas at the age of 16. She entered the gaming industry in 2000 as a change person at Arizona Charlie’s Boulder where she later held the positions of floorperson and assistant shift manager. Allan would eventually move to Santa Fe Station in 2005 as relief shift manager, later to the Texas Station as a shift manager, and then to Palace Station in 2008 into the slot operations and technical manager role. She then returned to Texas Station at the end of 2008 as director of slot operations and then moved to Aliante Station into the same role in 2009. Allan started at Konami Gaming, Inc. in 2012 where she has worked as an analyst, product specialist, and, currently, as technical sales executive. The interview with Allan begins with her discussion of moving to Las Vegas and the experiences and roles she held as she started in the gaming industry. She discusses the various responsibilities she had in those roles, the types of skills required for them, and the kinds of disputes that are handled in certain supervisory positions. Allan also mentions and discusses the topic of hold percentage as it relates to slot and video poker players. She later describes her philosophy on what makes a good slot floor and also what customers are looking for in slots. Allan then provides the details of her move to the manufacturing side of the slot industry, and she gives her thoughts on what makes both a good and bad slot manager. The interview then shifts to the discussion of free slot play; ticket-in, ticket-out; changes in slot management; and the future of slot machines. The interview concludes with Allan’s discussion of her personal gambling as well as her advice for young people who want to go into the slot industry.
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