Oral history interview with Dr. Javier A. Rodríguez conducted by Elsa Lopez and Barbara Tabach on December 19, 2019 for the Latinx Voices of Southern Nevada Oral History Project. Dr. Javier Rodríguez, Biology Professor at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, talks of his personal and educational history that led him to UNLV. He discusses his migration from Puerto Rico to California where he received his PhD from the University of California Berkley and became a biological museum curator for various animal specimens. He later moved to Las Vegas to teach at UNLV where he has now been for nearly two decades; Dr. Rodríguez shares how UNLV has changed since he first started working here, including the university's increased interest in faculty research to become a Top Tier institution. Subjects discussed include: Puerto Rico; University of California Berkley; University funding; Tier 1 research institutions.
The MacDonald Ranch Development Records (1972-2010) contain correspondence, maps, land assessments and investigations, master plans, and architectural, civil engineering, and landscape drawings primarily detailing the community development process of MacDonald Ranch, a master-planned community in southwest Henderson, Nevada.
The Irwin and Susan Molasky Papers (early 1900s-2012, bulk 1970-2012) primarily contain materials related to real estate development work by Irwin Molasky with his company, the Molasky Group of Companies, in Las Vegas, Nevada. In addition, the collection includes personal photographs (early 1900s-2011, bulk 1970-2011) of family members, friends, and events, as well as a Proclamation from Clark County, Nevada to establish the Molasky Family Park.
The Basic Magnesium Inc. (BMI) Records and Photographs (1933-1965) document the planning, construction, and management of the BMI magnesium manufacturing plants near present-day Henderson in Clark County, Nevada and a magnesium mining operation in Gabbs, Nye County, Nevada. Materials include chronological reports, press releases, telegrams, budgets, building diagrams, maps, and black-and-white photographic prints. The records document employee housing and infrastructure projects, magnesium production statistics, and employee data. The photographic prints, which include many aerial images, provide a visual record of the construction of the plant, the mining operation, and the associated support facilities and employee housing.
The John Wittwer Collection on Agriculture in Nevada (1898-1972) contains the professional papers and records of John Wittwer in his capacity as an Agricultural Extension agent for the University of Nevada from 1921 to 1954. The records are primarily annual reports containing text, photographs, newspaper clippings, and charts that provide a rich chronicle of the conditions of agriculture and ranching in southern Nevada from 1898 to 1972, with the bulk of the material dating from 1929 to 1955. These conditions span water issues, such as flood control and irrigation, to the general difficulties of sustaining agriculture and viable food production in a desert environment. The reports come from the Agricultural Experiment Stations in Clark and Lincoln counties and most contain both a statistical report and a narrative summary.