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Richard E. Buchanan oral history interview
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Oral history interview with Richard E. Buchanan conducted by Gary Gekakis on March 07, 1979 for the Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas. During the interview, Buchanan discusses growing up in Southern Nevada and his occupational experience, including working as a construction worker, maintenance worker and warehouseman.
Archival Collection
Rita M. Zajac oral history interview
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Oral history interview with Rita M. Zajac conducted by Edward Napierkowski on March 06, 1977 for the Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas. In this interview Zajac discusses her recollection of Nevada politics during the 1960s.
Archival Collection
Claytee D. White oral history interview
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Oral history interview with Claytee D. White conducted by Stefani Evans on November 2, 2023 for the African Americans in Las Vegas: a Collaborative Oral History Project. In this interview, Claytee D. White, founding directory of the Oral History Research Center at UNLV Libraries, celebrates the twentieth anniversary of the OHRC by contributing her oral history to the collection.
She begins by explaining how the system of sharecropping worked in her family near rural Ahoskie, North Carolina, and she talks about the field work involved in raising cotton, tobacco, corn, and peanuts. The fifth of eight children and the first daughter, she shares memories of going into town with her mother, of admiring her women teachers, and of attending North Carolina Central College (now University) for two years before moving to Washington, D.C., and working for the telephone company.
After recalling her two years in D.C. and 22 years in Los Angeles, California, she describes "running away" to Las Vegas, Nevada in the early 1990s. Here, at the History department at UNLV, she recalls learning to conduct oral histories. White shares memories of her first interviews with Hazel and Jimmy Gay and Lucille Bryant. She talks of matriculating to the College of William and Mary for her PhD and of returning to Bertie County to live with her mother and administer the office of The Shaw University Center for Alternative Programs in Education (CAPE). She describes how she was offered the position of OHRC founding director, why it matters that she was an "opportunity hire," and how it feels to be the only Black person in a room.
Archival Collection
Jelaine Velasco oral history interview
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Oral history interview with Jelaine Velasco conducted by Angela Tampol in November 2021 for the Reflections: The Las Vegas Asian American and Pacific Islander Oral History Project. Velasco describes her early life in California, and the different processes that her parents went through to become citizens after immigrating from the Philippines to the United States at different times. She explains her thoughts about what being "Asian American" means and how growing up in California gives her a unique perspective although she still experiences racism and microaggressions.
Archival Collection
Skip Allen oral history interview
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Oral history interview with Skip Allen conducted by Henry Perzchala on February 27, 1980 for the Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas. Allen discusses working in human resources for the military, as well as working for his father in the Las Vegas Strip area. Allen also describes recreational activities, his views on morality as a Las Vegan, and some of his experiences in hospitality industry.
Archival Collection
Frank Scott oral history interview
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Oral history interview with Frank Scott conducted by Richard Lloyd Pipkins on January 23, 1978 for the Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas. In this interview, Scott discusses the history of Las Vegas, Nevada since the 1930s. He talks about the changes in crime, people settling in the city, and the railroad history of Las Vegas.
Archival Collection
Witt C. Olive oral history interview
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Oral history interview with Wilford "Witt" C. Olive conducted by Gordon R. Brusso on April 13, 1977 for the Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas. In this interview, Olive discusses local live entertainment venues during the 1930s and 1940s in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Archival Collection
Philip Partridge oral history interview
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Oral history interview with Philip Partridge conducted by Virginia Collins on March 07, 1976 for the Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas. Partridge discusses education, early Las Vegas, Nevada, and the development of casinos and gambling.
Archival Collection
Shirley Helmick oral history interview
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Oral history interview with Shirley Helmick conducted by Lyle Helmick on May 12, 1978 for the Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas. Helmick discusses her personal history, occupational history, and reasons for moving to Nevada. She also explains events that the United Methodist Church hosts.
Archival Collection
Mary F. Kreuzer oral history interview
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Oral history interview with Mary Kreuzer conducted by Patricia Kohlman on December 15, 1975 for the Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas. The two discuss Kreuzer’s childhood, as well as the different addresses that she’s lived at in Las Vegas. The interview concludes with a discussion on entertainment and small businesses before the population boom in Southern Nevada.
Archival Collection