Oral history interview with Robert Forbuss conducted by Suzanne Becker on February 12, 2009 for the Voices of the Historic John S. Park Neighborhood Oral History Project. In this interview, Forbuss discusses Las Vegas, Nevada history while sharing childhood memories of the neighborhood. He also discusses his mother buying a home in 1944 in the Huntridge development, adjacent to the John S. Park Neighborhood and living there for the rest of her life. He then mentions her owning a dry cleaning business, which he later owned.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Beverly Mathis conducted by Claytee D. White on July 20, 2016 for the African Americans in Las Vegas: a Collaborative Oral History Project. In this interview, Mathis discusses her early life in Trenton, Tennessee. She talks about experiencing discrimination, the importance of voting, and attending the University of Tennessee at Martin. Mathis describes moving to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1976 and being an African American elementary teacher at the time. Lastly, Mathis discusses her thoughts on education in Nevada.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Nanyu (Nelson) Tomiyasu conducted by Samantha Kerwin on April 30, 1986 for the Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas. Tomiyasu discuses life, changes, and politics in Las Vegas, Nevada. Tomiyasu also talks about the organizations he was a part of, including The Southern Nevada Landscaping Contractors Association, and The Southern Nevada Urban League. The interview concludes with Tomiyasu recalling the above ground atomic test, and World War II.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Katherine McKee conducted by Claytee D. White on September 3, 2016 for the African Americans in Las Vegas: a Collaborative Oral History Project. In her interview McKee discusses her career dancing at the Mint, The Silver Slipper's Minsky's Burlesque, and the Dune's Viva Les Girls. She also discusses her performances on the road with Les Girls Montreal road show as well and her experience as Sammy Davis' "road wife."
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Herb Jeffries conducted by Cork Proctor on 2009 May 5 for the All That Jazz Oral History Project. In the interview Jeffries discusses his life as a singer and actor, entertaining in Las Vegas, Nevada where Frank Sinatra offered support when Jeffries encountered racial discrimination. He also talks about his life after retirement, his family, being an America, his military service, and his relationship with Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington as a young performer.
Archival Collection
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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Oral history interview with Mary Hausch conducted by Claytee D. White on April 07, 2009 for the Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project. In this interview, Hausch discusses her upbringing in Ohio and her career in education journalism during the 1960s and 1970s. She describes attending Ohio University during the protest movements against the Vietnam War and how the Kent State University shootings affected college life. Hausch then talks about working at the Las Vegas Review-Journal during the 1970s, where she covered the education system of Las Vegas, Nevada as it began enforcing racial integration in its schools. She explains how race relations were at the time and Nevada's busing program.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Cork Proctor conducted by Claytee D. White on February 3, 2006 for the Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project. In this interview, Proctor discusses his upbringing in Las Vegas, Nevada during the 1940s and 1950s. He tells several anecdotes of his life, such as the time he stole a car in the Huntridge Theater parking lot or his time working as a gravedigger, and describes popular establishments and entertainment venues in Las Vegas. Proctor then talks about his career in show business as a comedian and radio host, race relations in Las Vegas, and meeting his wife. He also discusses how Las Vegas has developed socially and expanded, how he expects it to evolve in the future, and other experiences from entertainment gigs.
Archival Collection
On March 1, 1977, collector Sam C. Melchiome Jr. interviewed Jean McColl (born May 24th, 1931 in California) at her home in Las Vegas, Nevada. In this interview, Jean McColl discusses growing up in Searchlight and then Las Vegas, Nevada. She discusses how her family came here as well as the many changes she has seen through the decades living in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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Oral history interview with Esther Langston conducted by Claytee D. White on February 22, 2005 for the UNLV @ 50 Oral History Project. In this interview, Langston provides an overview of her early life and career in social work. She describes how the women in her family are positive and empowering role models. Langston moves on to explain how she become a social worker over a period of many years. She states that a job experience that helped her gain the qualifications of a social worker was working as an office manager at the Nevada Test Site. She also mentions how she has had to work with conflicts such as racial inequalities.
Archival Collection