Robert E. "Spud" Lake was a Las Vegas pioneer and civic developer for whom an elementary school was named. He was born in 1857 in Illinois. He married Mary Ellen Osborn in Missouri in 1885, and they moved to Ontario, Canada, before eventually settling in Las Vegas, Nevada in 1904. He started a barbershop for railroad workers and other settlers in the area. Lake participated in the land auction for the Las Vegas town site and purchased two parcels. The first school was built on one of his parcels; and he served as the first president of the school board, and later as a trustee.
Francesca Graglia was born in Italy in 1877. She was an early resident and entrepreneur in Las Vegas, Nevada, along with her husband Joseph. She moved to British Columbia, Canada from Italy with Joe Graglia, and the family later moved to Rhyolite, Nevada in 1908 and Las Vegas, Nevada in 1911. Graglia helped her husband operate his many businesses, ranging from the Union Hotel and Bar, Pair o’ Dice Nite Club, and National Hotel, all located in Las Vegas. Francesca Graglia died in Las Vegas in 1941.
Sam Gay was the Sheriff of Clark County, Nevada between 1911 and 1931. He was born March 1, 1860 in Prince County, Canada and grew up in Massachusetts. Gay moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1905 to work as a bouncer in the Arizona Club. He was chosen by the first Sheriff of Clark County, Charles C. Corkhill, to be his deputy in 1909, and he later became Sheriff himself. He died August 24, 1932 in Las Vegas.
Oral history interview with Donna Silva conducted by Claytee D. White on February 6, 2023 for the Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project. In this interview, Silva recalls her childhood living in Los Angeles, California; Las Vegas, Nevada; Valdosta, Georgia; and Japan. When her family settled in Las Vegas, her family joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, but Silva later left the organization as a teenager. Throughout the interview, Silva recalls memories of the Rolling Stones, Steve Wynn, Elvis, and doing lighting work throughout the city as the first female to join the stagehand's union. Silva's work in the hotel/casino industry provides insight in work on the casino floor and behind the curtains of entertainment venues. She worked as a cocktail waitress, cigarette girl, and then backstage as a member of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. Her passion later turned to working with the Rape Crisis Center, where Silva has acquired training that allows her to go to hospitals to assist patients.
The Yucca Mountain Environmental Safety Collection (1970-2011) consists of reports and impact studies collected by Clark County's Nuclear Waste Division library for documenting Yucca Mountain's potential health and safety risks to Southern Nevada. The reports contain documents pertaining to potential environmental, health, financial, and safety risks from the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository, which is located in Nye County, Nevada. The collection contains scientific and social studies in support of and opposition to the site. The bulk of the collection includes licensing reports, site selection studies, and impact studies from transporting, storing, and handling radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel.