Oral history interview with Stella Champo Iaconis conducted by Kay Long on May 14, 1997, May 21, 1997, May 26, 1997, and September 22, 1997 for the Women's Research Institute of Nevada (WRIN) Las Vegas Women Oral History Project. Iaconis opens her interviews discussing her difficult upbringing and life on a ranch in Las Vegas, Nevada with her dad in the 1910s and 1920s. Iaconis then describes her experiences as a waitress in Las Vegas. As the interviews continue, Iaconis discusses Block 16 and sex work, the Helldorado Days, and life in 1930s Las Vegas. Iaconis ends the interview talking about her father and his career as a miner; her many husbands; and her personal history in Las Vegas.
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.
The collection is comprised of architectural drawings (1952-1997) completed by American architect, Ethan Jennings Jr. and/or his architectural firm, Ethan Jennings Jr., AIA, CSI and includes Jenning's work from the firm of John Badgley, AIA, where Ethan Jennings Jr. worked in Southern California during the 1950s, as well as work Jenning's completed with Americo Inc., and Tolosa Group. The collection contains 217 sets of drawings, 6 boxes of project records, and 8 flat files of oversized material from over 200 different projects primarily located in California with some projects located in the Las Vegas area. The materials feature hand-drawn architectural drawings, ranging from preliminary sketches to construction documents. The drawings also contain work from consultants, engineers, and other architects who collaborated on the development of the various projects. The drawings include: commercial, industrial, professional, civic, residential, and religious buildings of varying scales, such as libraries, apartments, warehouses, office developments, schools, military buildings, churches, and custom single-family homes located throughout California and Las Vegas. The drawings also include a number of additions, remodels, and renovations. The collection also contains project records like structural calculations and drawings, project manuals and specifications, bid documents, and professional correspondence.
The Benedict Family Papers materials date from roughly 1905-1998 and are comprised of correspondence and letters (1969-1971) written to Howard Hughes by the public. The collection also contains correspondence written to Robert Maheu, former chief executive of Nevada operations for Howard Hughes. The collection also includes a variety of casino and gambling related product catalogs, gaming guides for Las Vegas casinos, and of research papers and reports primarily relating to sports betting and cheating.
The Tobias Mattstedt Menu Collection (approximately 1990-2009) is comprised of menus documenting the restaurant industry in Las Vegas, Nevada, the United States, and internationally. The menus include restaurants located in Las Vegas casinos, most notably the MGM Grand, located in Las Vegas. Included in the MGM Grand menus are restaurants such as the Pearl, Tabu Ultra Lounge, and the Grand Wok and Sushi Bar. The collection also documents menus collected by Mattstedt that are not affiliated with the MGM Corporation. These include menus located in the United States, especially Hawaii, including menus from the restaurants Olio!, Nob Hill, Diego's, and Sea Blue. The collection also includes international menus with a focus on Asian countries. The material provides insight into menu design, food culture, and the Las Vegas service industry.
The Maria LaCavera Papers (1947-2017) contain the papers of professional dancer Maria LaCavera. The collection documents the career of LaCavera dancing in Las Vegas, Nevada at the Flamingo Hotel in 1947, and the Last Frontier Hotel in 1949 as one of the Ramona Girls dancing in the Danny O'Neil Varieties Act. Materials include photographs of LaCavera and other Ramona Girls, newspaper clippings, correspondence, LaCavera's American Guild of Variety Artists (AGVA) employment contracts, Fabulous Las Vegas magazines, and hotel receipts. Other items of note include photographs of the 1949 Helldorado parade, a Frontier Hotel Ramona Room menu, and Frontier Hotel ephemera. There is also a copy of a self-published biography of LaCavera, written by her daughter-in-law Kristin Meyer entitled From Bon-Air to the Last Frontier. The collection also contains the digital images used to illustrate the book.
The Jean Ford Photograph Collection (1964-1977) contains black-and-white photographic prints, contact sheets, and transparencies of Nevada politician and activist Jean Ford. The collection includes photographs of Jean Ford with the Nevada State Park Commission and various Nevadan politicians; Ford lecturing and campaigning; and of the 1977 National Women's Conference in Houston, Texas.
The Dorothy Dorothy papers (approximately 1913-1986) document the life of singer, songwriter, columnist, pilot, and farmer, Dorothy Dorothy. Materials contain genealogy records, correspondence, business and organizational records, local history, sheet music, artifacts, and two boxes of photographic prints. Also included are materials relating to her active involvement with animal rights campaigns.
The Martha C. Knack and Omer C. Stewart Research Papers on the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe contains materials collected by Stewart and Knack as research for their 1984 book, As Long as the River Shall Run: An Ethnohistory of Pyramid Lake Indian Reservation. The collection focuses on the Pyramid Lake Paiute Reservation in Northeastern Nevada from 1845 to 1975 and include letters, journal articles, legal documents, government documents, treatises, and records. All materials are photocopies of documents that date between approximately 1845 to 1980.