Oral history interview with Nathalie Martinez conducted by Rodrigo Vazquez and Barbara Tabach on June 24, 2021 for Latinx Voices of Southern Nevada Oral History Project.
Nathalie Martinez, one of the original members of the Latinx Voices project team, dicusses her personal history and the history of her parents who immigrated to the United States from Colombia and El Salvador. She shares her educational background and experiences working as an interviewer for the Latinx Voices project before its culmination and her graduation in 2021. Nathalie also talks about her work on the project's podcast and her work linguistically translating the interviews from Spanish to English.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Charlotte Pittman conducted by Vanessa Concepcion, Cecilia Winchell, and Stefani Evans on November 29, 2021 for Reflections: The Las Vegas Asian American and Pacific Islander Oral History Project. Charlotte discuses her heritage and family's histories as well as her childhood growing up in Manila, Philippines with her cousins and Lola (paternal grandmother). She talks about immigrating to the United States and growing up in Pueblo, Colorado before attending the Air Force Academy to become a pilot and moving to Las Vegas with her husband. Charlotte also shares memories from her time serving in the Air Force, her plans to retire in the near future, and her current activities with her family.
Archival Collection
Oral history interviews with Leroy Burt, Joseph Kine, and Tommy Nelson conducted by Dennis McBride on November 10 and 11, 1986 for the Boulder City Library Oral History Project. The men discuss what they had been doing when the depression started in 1929, when they moved to Nevada, and their first jobs in Boulder City and the dam site. They share stories about their work experiences and discuss the different types of work at the dam, including high scalers, form strippers, jackhammer operators, and concrete pouring and puddling. They also talk about incidents and accidents that occurred during production, and the differences in safety standards in the 1930s and the 1980s.
Archival Collection
Panel discussion entitled Las Vegas: Past, Present, Future with Frank Wright, Richard Bryan, and Thomas J. Hickey moderated by Robert Tracy on January 11, 2002 for the American Institute of Architects (AIA) of Nevada annual meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada. In this discussion, the three panelists discuss Las Vegas' past and the history that both created the city and informs public opinion about it, the present and the challenges the growing city faces socially and economically, and the potential future directions the city might take to ensure continued prosperity. The discussion began with the panelists presenting prepared remarks and continued to an extended question and answer session with the meeting attendees.
Archival Collection
Roundtable oral history interview with members of the Las Vegas Media Group conducted by Lisa Gioia-Acres on May 26, 2009 for the UNLV University Libraries Oral History Collection. Interviewees include Frank Mitrani, Dick Taylor, Rich Freeland, Don Payne, and John Ellem. Each participant identifies themselves and explains how and why they became members of the Las Vegas Media Group. They discuss the history of the group, how it came together, where they decided to meet, who qualified to join, and then talk about earlier members lost to death or departure. The remainder of the interview is various anecdotes and stories told by the participants.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Gerri Schroder conducted by Cecilia Winchell, Jerwin Tiu, and Stefani Evans on September 2, 2022 for the Reflections: The Las Vegas Asian American and Pacific Islander Oral History Project. In this interview, Schroder discusses her childhood in both California and Michigan. She discusses attending Orange Coast College, and later moving to Las Vegas, Nevada with her husband for a job opportunity. Schroder first began her community invovlement by participating in the Henderson Beautification Planning Commission. She gradually became more involved in several community activities including campaigns, commissions, and committees. Amongst them was Bill Clinton's presidential campaign and the National League of Cities. Schroder carried out three terms as Councilwoman and continues to work with the local and national community on issues that she finds most valuable, including the Las Vegas water crisis, women's rights, and public safety.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Ron Smith conducted by Claytee D. White on May 10, 2022 for the African Americans in Las Vegas: A Collaborative Oral History Project. In this interview, Ron Smith discusses his early life in Queens, New York and his Catholic school education. Smith served as a Red Cross volunteer at the hospital where his mother worked, and after one year at St. Johns University he volunteered for the Air Force to avoid being drafted by the Army. Soon after basic training and being trained as an aircraft mechanic, Ron Smith volunteered to go to Vietnam. Later, Smith talks about his experience owning seventeen McDonald's restaurants throughout Las Vegas, Nevada and future plans to construct a mall and residential complex on Boulder Highway in partnership with the City of Henderson.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with William Carl Weikel conducted by Barbara Tabach on May 10, 2012 for the Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project. Weikel's family owned the YKL Ranch near Searchlight, Nevada from 1950 to 1989. The property was known before and after their ownership as the Walking Box Ranch, owned at one time by Rex Bell, Sr. and Clara Bow. In this interview, Weikel talks about living and working on the ranch, some of the more notable people in Searchlight, and tells stories about interesting incidents that occurred on the ranch, and his opinion on protecting the desert tortoise.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Ida M. Harris conducted by Claytee D. White on March 25, 2004 for the Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project. In this interview, Harris discusses moving to Las Vegas, Nevada as a young women in 1920. She talks about parties she attended, her employment in retail and accounting, the Rose Bowl Parade, Helldorado, the construction of Hoover Dam and Boulder City, Nevada, and riding events she participated in as a member of the women's riding group The Lariettes. She also mentions local sights, the outdoor movie theatre, the early casinos, and the Las Vegas Jockey Club racetrack. She also identifies numerous individuals in photographs.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Catherine Buchanan conducted by Claytee D. White on March 26, 1997 as part of the UNLV University Libraries Oral History Collection. In this interview, Buchanan speaks at length about her child and young adulthood in Louisiana and explains how she moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1971. She discusses her first job as a maid at the Landmark Hotel and Casino and how she applied to the Teamsters Union to move into front desk work in the hotels, which led to a job at the Sahara Hotel and Casino. She then talks about discrimination and the small percentage of African Americans in the more "visible" jobs at the hotels.
Archival Collection