Wendy Starkweather recalls her move to Las Vegas on a hot summer day in 1978. Her husband, Peter L. Starkweather had accepted a position to teach biology, but nothing had prepaied her for desert weather in July. She was a small town girl, born and raised in rural Ogdensburg, New York. She attended Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY and became a teacher and librarian in New Hampshire Getting a job at UNLV's library took some time, but finally in 1985, she was offered the position of head of references. From that point on, there was only looking forward for Wendy. She was to be an active member of the library staff until her retirement in 2010. During her over two decades at UNLV she worked under the leadership of six deans. She was an vigorous voice in the development of services, impacting circulation, interlibrary loans and non-book services that included media and instruction. In addition, she was here during a momentous period as the future Lied Library was being fu
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Keny Stewart often sits in his backyard and hears the train whistle. In that moment he thinks about what Las Vegas must have been like in the 1940s—a moment made more meaningful by living in historic John S. Park Neighborhood. He enjoys his place, a place he has called home for 20 years. He was there for the beginning of the neighborhood "renaissance". Keny moved from California to Las Vegas in 1984 to work as an entertainer. One day a few years later he accidentally drove through John S. Park neighborhood, admired the architecture of the homes and the nostalgic feeling. Soon he was a homeowner, restoring his investment, a labor of love. At the time he worked nights on the Strip and restored his house day. Along the way he made a career change to educator/librarian for grade school level. He is a former neighborhood association president. He remembers the neighborhood's battle to maintain its integrity as it went up against local casino developer Bob Stupak's (whose home i
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At age 95, Marian Wojciechowski recalls his personal story of being born a region called called Poland in 1914, just as World War I was beginning. This narrative gives special attention to his Polish background at a time when the country did not technically exist, and their language was forbidden. By the late 1930s and the dawning of World War II, Marian is a young man struggling to understand what is transpiring, but knowing that he must participate in the Polish underground resistance against the Germans His activism gets him arrested and sentenced to Auschwitz as a non-Jew and without penalty of death. He recalls the Gestapo beatings which have left him without feeling in his fingers and a loss of hearing. He shares historical perspectives of the war era, agricultural coops, goal of Germans to sell Jews to the United States and other countries, and a story about a woman who helped save 2500 Jewish children during war.
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On March 26, 1981, Matthew A. Carr interviewed Morgan Mills (b. July 27, 1914 in Grand Junction, Colorado) about his life in Boulder City, Nevada and his work at the Boulder (Hoover) Dam site. Mills speaks primarily about his time working on the dam as a mechanic with the United States Bureau of Reclamation, as a tourist guide with the Boulder City Tourist Bureau and as a musician in local bands. Moreover, Mills speaks about attending the University of Nevada, Reno and playing music there. Lastly, he talks about the Great Depression, how it affected Las Vegas and Boulder City, the development of different infrastructure and the speakeasies in Boulder City during the Prohibition era.
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Detailed report with drawings and maps of the water system at Basic Magnesium, Incorporated.
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