Oral history interview with Alice Cowles Brown conducted by Eric M. Cheese for the Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas. In this interview Brown offers an overview of life in Las Vegas and Henderson from 1956 to 1981. Brown then discusses road conditions, social structures, the educational system, support for intercollegiate sports and UNLV.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Lee White conducted by Claytee D. White on May 18, 2021 for African Americans in Las Vegas: a Collaborative Oral History Project. Lee White played professional football for the New York Jets, Los Angeles Rams, and San Diego Chargers. A promising career as a first round draft pick resulted in an injury in his first professional game. He retired from football at the age of 28 and moved back to Las Vegas where he had grown up on the Westside. Lee entered the hotel and casino industry as a dealer, retiring twenty-five years later as a Vice President of Casino Operations. His career in the tourism industry included work at the Sands, MGM, Desert Inn, and the Tropicana.
Subjects discussed include: Westside School, Weber State College, and the Sahara Hotel and Casino
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Gloria Dea Anzalone conducted by Claytee D. White on October 22, 2022 for the Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project. In this interview, Gloria Dea describes her childhood in Oakland, California where she learned the art of magic from her father. Her family moved to Sacramento where Gloria Dea first performed in Breuners Department Store and by age twelve, she was working in nighclubs. Later in Hollywood, Gloria Dea danced in several films and entertained in USO shows. She performed in 1941 at the Last Frontier and the El Rancho - some of the earliest places on what was later the Las Vegas Strip. In the interview, she recalls time serving as president of both the Women's Club of Burbank, Hadassah, and the board of American Guild of Variery Artists.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Linda Faiss conducted by Claytee D. White on July 13, 2015 for the Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project. Faiss begins by describing her upbringing in Carson City, Nevada before attending the University of Nevada, Reno to study journalism, later working at the
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Pamela Jones Brown conducted by Claytee D. White on June 12, 2019 for the Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project. In this interview, Brown discusses growing up in Nashville, Tennessee and meeting her husband, Joe W. Brown, while attending Sweer Briar College and married two months later. They moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in July 1968, where she taught English and French at Brinley Junior High School. She left teaching and joined PBS/Channel 10 as a scriptwriter. The Junior League of Las Vegas became her creative outlet with the "Crossroads of the West" project that documented the history of the town. These short documentaries were produced by the local PBS statio, and she discusses writing the scripts.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Don Perry conducted by Karen Croteau on March 05, 1978 for the Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas. In this interview, Perry discusses his experiences with Southern Paiute Native Americans on their reservation in southern Nevada. Perry describes the traditions and lifestyle of the Paiutes, and the living conditions on their reservation. Perry shares several short anecdotes of his interactions with the Paiutes, as well as stories he heard on the reservation.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Otto Ravenholt conducted by Kenneth "K. J." Evans on June 16, 1999 for the Las Vegas Review-Journal First 100 Oral History Project. In the interview, Ravenholt discusses his family's history, his marriage, his education, and his service in the United States Army. Ravenholt talks about arriving in Las Vegas, Nevada in 1963, working as Clark County, Nevada's first Chief Health Officer, and establishing a health center at 2nd Street and Stewart Street. He recalls administrative and legislative issues during the health center's construction, memories of World War II and the Korean War, and his investigative work as a coroner.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Nery Martinez conducted by Laurents Bañuelos-Benitez on December 06, 2018 for the Latinx Voices of Southern Nevada Oral History Project. In this interview, Martinez discusses his upbringing in Zacatecoluca, La Paz, El Salvador. He describes growing up around organized crime, the Salvadoran Civil War, and the hardship that came with earning an education. Martinez talks about his immigration story to the United States, and his first impressions of Las Vegas, Nevada. He recalls training to be a bartender, becoming a member of the Culinary Workers Union Local 226, and the aid that the Union provides for the immigrant community. Later, Martinez discusses his experience applying for a Temporary Protected Status (TPS), and the Salvadoran community in Las Vegas. Lastly, Martinez talks about starting a family in Las Vegas, and sharing his Salvadoran culture with his children.
Archival Collection