Oral history interview with Tina Quigley conducted by Claytee D. White and Stefani Evans on August 29, 2017 for the Building Las Vegas Oral History Project. In this interview, Quigley discusses her early life in Petaluma, California. She talks about her initial interest in aviation, attending Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, and studying airport planning and aviation business. Quigley recalls moving to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1990, her employment at McCarran Airport, and airport projects she was involved in. Later, Quigley remembers joining the Regional Transportation Commission (RTC), becoming general manager, and the development of transportation technology. Lastly, Quigley discusses future planning for Clark County public transportation.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Curtis Myles conducted by Claytee D. White and Stefani Evans on March 16, 2017 for the Building Las Vegas Oral History Project. In this interview, Myles discusses his childhood in Las Vegas, Nevada and growing up in the Westside. He recalls his employment at McCarran International Airport, the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada (RTC), and later the Las Vegas Monorail. Lastly, Myles talks about corporate gaming mergers as they apply to monorail transit in Las Vegas, and speaks to the future of monorail transport relative to the airport, Maryland Parkway, and Downtown Las Vegas.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Debra Nutton conducted by David Schwartz on June 15, 2015 for the Table Games Management Oral History Project. In this interview, Nutton discusses her career in gaming. She talks about working at the MGM Grand in 1976, going to dealing school, and becoming one of the first female craps dealers in Las Vegas, Nevada. Nutton remembers auditioning for various casino floors, her teachers, and becoming a floor manager. She then recalls the opening of the MGM Mirage, applying for a pit manager position there, and being hired as the only female pit manager in 1989. Later, Nutton describes the role of casino shift manager, handling issues with customers, and begin a casino manager for twelve years. Lastly, Nutton discusses her move to meeting Steve Wynn and becoming a casino manager for the Wynn.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Jack LeVine conducted by Suzanne Becker on June 28, 2007 for the Voices of the Historic John S. Park neighborhood Oral History Project. LeVine discusses being a real estate agent and a gay man living in Las Vegas, Nevada since moving there in the 1980s.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Emilia Marquez conducted by Maribel Estrada Calderón on July 5, 2019 for the Latinx Voices of Southern Nevada Oral History Project. Claytee D. White and Emily Lucile are also present during the interview. Emilia Marquez was born in the United Stated and raised in Alexandria, Virginia, where her father worked as a bricklayer, until the age of twelve, when her father decided to move the family back to Uruguay. She describes acclimating to her new life in middle school and her shift from being perceived as an outsider in Uruguay to accepting Uruguay as home. She describes life in Uruguay and the positions that her family held while living there. After meeting and marrying her husband they trained to work in a casino. She trained as a slot machine operator, and her husband trained as a dealer. This eventually led them to leave Uruguay for the U.S. After the encouragement of her father and mother, she moved with her mother to Las Vegas to work in the casino industry. She describes working as a change person at the Luxor before moving to the newly opened Palms, where she worked until she left it to work at the Wynn. She ends the interview talking about various Uruguayan dishes and traditions, and a brief history of Uruguay. Subjects discussed in this interview: Uruguay, immigration, Las Vegas Strip, Latinx, Luxor.
Archival Collection
Oral history interviews with Woodrow Smith conducted by Claytee D. White on February 10, 2014 and February 12, 2014 for the African Americans in Las Vegas: a Collaborative Oral History Project. In these interviews, Smith discusses his upbringing in Chattanooga, Tennessee and describes moving to another part of Chattanooga due to the violence his family experienced. He talks about attending Tuskegee University, studying engineering, and being taught by Tuskegee Airmen professors. Later, Smith discusses his work at the Nevada Test Site, the aerospace industry, and moving to Las Vegas, Nevada in the mid-1980s. Lastly, Woodrow recalls his experiences in Las Vegas and describes investing into a McDonald's franchise.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Juanita Kilburg conducted by Vicente Camacho on March 07, 1981 for the Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas. Kilburg discusses the Boulder (Hoover) Dam, McCarran International Airport, Nellis Air Force Base, living in Las Vegas, Nevada during the Great Depression, and casinos. The interview concludes with a discussion on her work with the American Legion service organization.
Archival Collection
Oral history interviews with Catherine Gullo (C.G.) Bellver conducted by Caryll Batt Dziedziak on November 13, 1995, November 20, 1995, and December 04, 1995 for the Women's Research Institute of Nevada (WRIN) Las Vegas Women Oral History Project. Bellver begins her interviews by discussing gender roles within her family and extended family, and how those shaped her early life and education. Bellver then discusses moving to Las Vegas, Nevada and her career at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), where she began as a Spanish professor. Bellver then talks about her involvement in starting and maintaining a Women's Studies Program at the UNLV. Bellver discusses the initial steps she took to create the department, the original curriculum, and student reception of the courses. Later, Bellver talks about the successes and challenges of the Women's Studies program several years after it's establishment.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Mike Velardo conducted by his son, William Velardo, on March 15, 1976 for the Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas. In this interview, Velardo discusses his career in the gaming industry in Las Vegas, Nevada. Velardo describes the history of casinos and gambling in Las Vegas, including how those industries have changed since he first moved to the city in 1957. He goes on to discuss the cost of entertainment, cheating in casino games, and the benefits of the design of the Caesars Palace pit, where Velardo is a casino manager.
Archival Collection