Interview with Rabbi Shea Harlig by Barbara Tabach on March 5, 2014. In this interview, Rabbi Harlig discusses the Chabad movement of Orthodox Judaism and establishment of Chabad centers in Las Vegas and Southern Nevada. Rabbi Harlig talks about the property he has acquired for Chabad, and its outreach programs, including supervision of kosher kitchens in hotels. This interview was conducted for the Ward 1: West Charleston Neighborhoods oral history project, and therefore includes zoning and neighborhood discrimination issues, and a tour of the property.

Rabbi Shea Harlig arrived in Las Vegas in 1990 and settled in the Artesian Heights neighborhood of Las Vegas. As Director of Chabad of Southern Nevada, Rabbi Harlig focuses on religious outreach, education and social services, and has helped establish seven Chabad locations throughout the community and also built a school and educational program of the highest standards.

Interview with Elaine Galatz by Barbara Tabach on April 22, 2015. In this interview, Galatz talks about growing up in Wisconsin. She attended the University of Wisconsin where she was an English major and active in Hillel and the Sigma Delta Tau sorority. She met her husband, Neil, while traveling through Las Vegas on several occasions, and sparks finally flew when she visited him in Tucson on a whim. She describes Neil's background in law, moving to Las Vegas together, and her job teaching second grade. She describes the small Jewish community in the 1960 including the Katzes, Brookmans, Freys, Molaskys and Greenspuns, and the current direction of the Jewish Federation. Galatz discusses raising her children, some of the cases that Neil worked on, their group of friends, and her love of horses.

Elaine Galatz was raised on a farm outside Madison, Wisconsin. Her father was a Russian immigrant father and her mother a young American born bride. Her father died when she was a teenager and her mother remarried a man who enjoyed gambling and that would lead her to first encounter with Las Vegas. Las Vegas would coincidentally become the center of her life when she and her husband of 51 years, Neil Galatz moved here in 1961. Elaine taught school briefly and worked in Neil's successful law firm for a number of years. Neil was a significant litigator in the MGM fire and PEPCON explosion cases. The couple also shared in the growth of Las Vegas Jewish community. Elaine served as Jewish Federation president, the second woman to hold that office. Among their favorite shared family activities was a love of Morgan horses, which continues to present day for Elaine.

Raymond Rawson's life started in the rural Utah community of Sandy in 1940. His family moved around in what he describes as a scene from John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. By the age of 10, the family settled in Las Vegas, which had a population of around 35,000. He attended Fifth Street Grammar School, Las Vegas High School, was a member of UNLV's first graduating class, and eventually became a dentist. In this interview, he reflects on his experiences of growing up in Las Vegas, the hardships of difficult economic eras, and his professional accomplishments in the field of dentistry, including actively advocating the creation of UNLV School of Dental Medicine. Ray also became a community leader. He served in the Nevada State Legislature from 1985 to 2001. He talks about his relationship with long-time legislator Joe Neal. Education and access to healthcare were among the issues that Ray championed and he shares his observations of these issues. In 2009, he was appointe

In 1905 a twenty-two-year-old second-generation Swiss American left Los Angeles with a friend for Lincoln County, Nevada. Edward "Ed" Von Tobel (1873-1967) and his friend Jake Beckley had heard about some land that was going up for auction. Together they purchased a parcel on the second day in the new desert town of Las Vegas, where they established Von Tobel's Lumber Company, which served Southern Nevada from 1905 until it closed in 1976. In Las Vegas Von Tobel met and married fellow German-speaker Mary Hameril, and together the couple raised four children in the city: Jake, Katherine Elizabeth, Ed Jr., and George. Many Von Tobel descendants live here still. Margaret Carnell, granddaughter of Ed Von Tobel and Mary Hameril and the oldest of three daughters of Elizabeth Von Tobel and Kenneth Zahn, was born in Las Vegas in 1939. After attending Arizona State University Margaret married in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1958 Margaret raised two children in Scottsdale, Arizona, before returning to Las Vegas in 1983. Margaret manages the Von Tobel family properties and in her spare time likes to travel. Patricia "Patsy" Brinton is the second daughter of Elizabeth Von Tobel and Kenneth Zahn. Like her sisters Patsy was raised in Las Vegas, where in 1972 she married real estate broker Robert Brinton. The Brintons raised two daughters and a son. Like her cousin Sharon, Patsy donates considerable volunteer hours through Assistance League of Las Vegas and Junior League of Las Vegas. Patsy enjoys traveling and playing golf and tennis. Sharon Schmitt, the second of four daughters of Edward Von Tobel Jr. and Evelyne Leonard, was born in Las Vegas in 1940. In 1963 in Las Vegas Sharon married Larry Schmitt, an agent for Allstate Insurance. Besides enjoying traveling and playing tennis, Sharon has long been an active community volunteer through Assistance League of Las Vegas, Junior League of Las Vegas, and Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church. Together the Schmitts raised a family of three children, who still live in Las Vegas and are raising the next generation of the Von Tobel family.