Oral history interview with Robert Kim conducted by Kristel Peralta, Cecilia Winchell, Ayrton Yamaguchi, and Vanessa Concepcion on March 05, 2021 for the Reflections: The Las Vegas Asian American and Pacific Islander Oral History Project. In this interview, Kim describes his career in law. He talks about his Korean roots, the model minority myth, and experiencing racial discrimination. Lastly, Kim discusses the Las Vegas Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community, his involvement with the Asian Bar Association of Las Vegas, and the importance of electing Asian Americans into political positions.
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Oral history interview with Kathia Quiros Pereira conducted by Monserrath Hernández on March 6, 2020 for the Latinx Voices of Southern Nevada Oral History Project. Pereira discusses her personal history and immigration from Lima, Peru to the United States. She also talks of her educational background as a student at the William S. Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and her current work as a founding partner of Pereira Immigration Law Group where she exclusively practices immigration law in Las Vegas.
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From the Roosevelt Fitzgerald Professional Papers (MS-01082) -- Unpublished manuscripts file. Pages 274 -313 of unknown manuscript.
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From the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, Theta Theta Omega Chapter Records (MS-01014).
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Oral history interview with Bryan Chan conducted by Vanessa Concepcion, Cecilia Winchell, and Stefani Evans on October 18, 2021 for Reflections: The Las Vegas Asian American and Pacific Islander Oral History Project. Bryan Chan discusses his life growing up in California, his family's migration stories to the United States, and his education. He discusses his appearance on a reality television show which led to becoming a singer for boy band LMNT. Bryan talks about his entertainment career, including his move to Las Vegas to sing and host for the Chippendales show at the Rio Hotel and Casino. He also shares insight into his family's traditions and his favorite foods that his father and grandmother cooked. Subjects discussed include: chain migration; Chippendales; giglife; virtual events; traditional foods.
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Oral history interview with Hernando Amaya conducted by Laurents Banuelos-Benitez, Marcela Rodriguez-Campo, and Barbara Tabach on October 18, 2018 and December 3, 2018 for the Latinx Voices of Southern Nevada Oral History Project. In this interview, Hernando Amaya talks about his childhood and education in Bogota, Colombia. He discusses his start in journalism as a young man and working for El Espectador, the Colombian national newspaper. He discusses his experiences reporting on the narco-terrorism occurring in Medellin, Colombia and how this eventually led to his immigration to the United States. Amaya moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 2001 and continued his career in journalism by working for local Spanish speaking papers and websites. He relates his civic involvement in the Las Vegas area, his work as the president of the Colombian Association of Las Vegas, and various other civic engagements. As a journalist, he asserts the importance of knowing one's culture, storytelling, learning history, and being active in the community.
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From the Clark County Economic Opportunity Board Records -- Series I. Administrative. This folder contains memos, agendas and minutes from meetings of the Clark County Economic Opportunity Board from July 1969 through December 1969
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Rita Deanin Abbey is an Emeritus Professor of Art at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She taught drawing, painting, and color theory and innovated interdisciplinary courses with the sciences at UNLV from 1965 to 1987. The University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Marjorie Barrick Museum and the Palm Springs Desert Museum (presently Palm Springs Art Museum), Palm Springs, CA collaborated to present the Rita Deanin Abbey 35 Year Retrospective, which was held February 16-March 5,1988 at UNLV and March 25-June 5,1988 at the Palm Springs Art Museum. Abbey received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1952 and her Master of Arts degree in 1954 from the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM. She also studied at Goddard College, Plainfield, VT; the Art Student s League, Woodstock, NY; the Fians Hofmann School of Fine Arts, Provincetown, MA; and the San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA. She was an artist in residence in the studios of Toshi Yoshida, Tokyo, Japan, John Killmaster, Boise, ID; Methow Iron Works, Twisp, WA; Tamarind Institute, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM; the Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ; Shidoni Foundry, Tesuque, NM; Bill Weaver Studio, Chupadero, NM; Savoy Studios, Portland, OR; and Carlson & Co., San Fernando, CA. Abbey, who works in the areas of painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, porcelain enamel fired on steel, stained-glass, and computer art, has had 60 individual exhibitions and has participated in over 200 national and international group exhibitions. She is represented in private and public collections in the United States, the Middle East, Europe, and South America. Abbey has published several articles in journals, and six books: Rivertrip, Northland Press, Flagstaff, AZ, 1977; Art and Geology: Expressive Aspects of the Desert, Peregrine Smith Books, Layton, UT, 1986 (co-authored by G. William Fiero); the Rita Deanin Abbey Rio Grande Series, Gan Or, Las Vegas, NV, 1996; In Praise of Bristlecone Pines, The Artists' Press, Johannesburg (presently located in White River), South Africa, 2000; Isaiah Stained- Glass Windows, Gan Or, Las Vegas, NV, 2002; Seeds Yet Ever Secret, Poems and Images, Gan Or, Las Vegas, NV, 2013. She has been the recipient of many commissions and grants and has won several awards, including the Bicentennial Commission for the State of Nevada, 1976; the Governor's Seventh Annual Visual Arts Award for the State of Nevada, 1986; and the Chairman's Award of Excellence at the 1987 International Exhibition of Enamelling Art, Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo, Japan. From 1988-1990, Abbey fabricated Northwind, a steel sculpture (17ft. x 27 ft. 5 in. x 25 ft. 10 in., 7 tons), installed in Las Vegas, NV. Abbey was invited by the Gallery Association of New York State to exhibit four of her works in its 1989-1991 traveling exhibition, Color and Image: Recent American Enamels. In 1992, the Markus Galleries, Las Vegas, NV, and the Nevada Symphony presented an exhibition of art by Abbey, which inspired Virko Baley s Piano Concerto No. 1. The world premiere performance of the concerto was held in 1993 at the National Opera House, Kiev, Ukraine. In 1993, Abbey constructed Spirit Tower, a cor-ten steel sculpture (20 ft., 11 tons), which was commissioned by the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District for the Summerlin Library and Performing Arts Center. Abbey was invited by the Pacific Division of the American Association for the Advancement of Science to lecture on Art and Geology at San Francisco State University for the 75th Annual Meeting, on June 19-24,1994. She was one of three artists from the United States invited to participate in the exhibition, Enamel Today, at Villa am Aabach, Uster, Switzerland, June-July, 1995. Additionally in 1995, Abbey completed a series of cast bronze sculptures at Shidoni Foundry, Tesuque, New Mexico. Commissioned in 1998, Abbey completed the Isaiah Stained-Glass Windows in 2000, sixteen 10 ft. x 2 ft. stained-glass windows for the main sanctuary of Temple Beth Sholom, Las Vegas, NV. Also in 2000, she completed Holocaust, a stainless steel sculpture (14 ft. 3 in., 4.5 tons), installed in Las Vegas, NV. In 2003 her bronze sculpture, Ner Tamid, was installed in Temple Adat Ami, Las Vegas, NV. Snakewash, a cor-ten steel ground sculpture (62 ft.), was completed in November 2003. Abbey fabricated steel sculptures and cast small and large bronzes from 2004 through the present. In 2006 she completed and installed Guardian of All Directions, a stainless steel sculpture (14 ft., 1.5 tons). The Guggenheim Hermitage Museum and Young Collectors Council visited the studio and home of Rita Deanin Abbey, Las Vegas, Nevada October 15, 2006. During March 2008, Women's History Month, Abbey was recognized for her contributions to the Arts by Mayor Goodman and Members of the Las Vegas City Council. Hidden Pass, a 2-inch steel plate sculpture (16 x 28 ft. 8 in. x 13 ft., 22 tons), was installed in 2010. Between July 16-December 23, 2011, Abbey exhibited in Blast from the Past, '60s & '70s Geometric Abstraction at Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Springs, California. The City of Las Vegas Office of Cultural Affairs, Las Vegas Arts Commission presented Abbey the Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in the Arts on May 25, 2012. Balanced Arc, an outdoor bronze sculpture (8ft. 8 in. x 9 ft. x 7 ft. 4 in., 1600 lbs.), completed in 2012, was installed in April 2013. The Western Museums Association 2014 Annual Meeting in Las Vegas, NV, toured The Art of Rita Deanin Abbey at the Desert Space Museum October 5, 2014. Abbey participated in the fall group exhibition Macrocosm/Microcosm: Abstract Expressionism in the American Southwest at the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma, October 2, 2014-January 4, 2015. Her artwork was also shown in the Recent Acquisitions exhibition at the Marjorie Barrick Museum, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, June 19-September 19, 2015. Currently, Abbey is working on new sculptures, paintings, and enamels. vii
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In the 1950s and 1960s, the Copa Room at the Sands Hotel and Casino featured glamorous showgirls. For a few years, the Houston Chronicle sponsored a contest that added the Texas Copa Girls to the line. In 1958, one of the winners was 17-year-old Judith Lee Johnson. For the "wild" but "naive" Judy, the experience was a period of funfilled freedom, followed by relentless encouragement of others to attend college, which she reluctantly did. To her surprise, she embraced the college life, took her studies seriously, and received an education degree. She also became Miss Houston. Four years later she returned to Las Vegas and the Sands. As she stepped into her role as a showgirl this second time, she was no longer the newbie. She experiences the lifestyle with more maturity. She talks about the celebrities she met, the lasting friendships she formed, performing in the Elvis movie Viva Las Vegas, and her trip around the world, a trip that included her personal dream of going to Paris. Judy shares details of her family heritage and she wonders to what extent she might have been living her mother's dream. Though her love of performance and theatre is keen, Judy channeled her passions into a 29-year career as an educator. She married a Marine in 1965, raised their children, moved with his career. She and her husband, Walter F. Jones, live in Virginia.
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Joan Massagli spent her childhood in the Tacoma, Washington area, singing three-part harmony—a member of a musically talented family that included five children and an aunt and uncle who raised all the kids to enjoy music. By high school in the early 1950s, she and her two older sisters were regulars on a local TV show. In 1956, the Sawyer Sisters act was formed and they were soon obtaining regular gigs in Las Vegas. Their popularity continued form 1957 to 1964 and they played many of the major hotels, usually as a warm up act for headliners that includes a list of names such as Roy Clark, Louis Prima, Shecky Greene, and Delia Reece. At first the Sawyer Sisters included older sister Nanette Susan and Joan. When Nanette quit to raise her family, youngest sister Kate stepped into what was called a "lively and lovely" trio. Joan met her future husband and musician Mark Tully Massagli, while performing in the early 1960s. Caring for ailing parents while working mostly in Las Vegas, the couple made Vegas home. Even after the Sawyer Sisters name faded from the Strip's marquees, Las Vegas remained home to the Massagli's, who raised their children here. Today they live in the Blue Diamond Village area and recall the changes that have occurred on the Las Vegas Strip—especially from an entertainer's point of view.
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