Oral history interview with José Luis Meléndrez conducted by Laurents Bañuelos-Benitez on November 20, 2018 for the Latinx Voices of Southern Nevada Oral History Project. In this interview, Meléndrez discusses his family background and early life in Baja California. He talks about his father's decision to migrate to the United States, and attending Catholic schools in California, Nevada, and Texas as the family moved around the country. Meléndrez recalls moving to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1990, enrolling at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), and his involvement with the Boy Scouts of America affiliated program, Learning for Life. Later, Meléndrez describes attending the University of Michigan, earning a master's degree in social work, and becoming executive director for the office of Community Partnerships in the UNLV School of Public Health. Lastly, Meléndrez discusses the future of the Las Vegas Latinx community, and becoming a founding member and chair for the Nevada Minority Health and Equity Coalition.
Coming from Durango and Tijuana, Mexico, Fernando Rocha’s parents met in Los Angeles in the mid-90s. Working in the sheet metal industry, his father’s career would take them to Las Vegas during the boom of the early 2000s to the slot machine industry where they would establish their family in Sunrise Manor. Little did he know that his son would later become a corporate banker working alongside the same industry with Wells Fargo.
Mexican festival dancers and spectators walking through the hilly streets. Description on the back, "Dancing up hill in front of our house, over forty of them. The picture is lacking without the color and strange throb of their music."
52 x 46 cm. "Map no. 23000." Shows reservoir sites, irrigated areas, power plants, power sites, dam sites, national parks or monuments, and diversion from basin. Colorado River Basin/Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation; John H. Pellen, chief draftsman. Original publisher: United States. Bureau of Reclamation.
On March 9, 1975, Maisie Gibson interviewed Fred Gibson (born 1927 in Golden, Colorado) about his life in Nevada. Gibson first talks about his family’s background, their move to Nevada, and his education in early Las Vegas schools. He also mentions his service in the U.S. Army, his college education, and his occupation as an engineer at various companies. Gibson then talks about the various locations at which he has lived, his membership in clubs and charitable organizations, and his memories of the first properties on Fremont Street as well as those of the Helldorado Parade. The interview then covers the topics of mining, the atomic testing, economic and environmental changes, and social changes. The interview concludes with a discussion on the growth and development of Henderson, Nevada.