Janice and Robert Spurlock were married in 1990 and each has a lifetime of Las Vegas memories. They have made Sandy Valley home for nearly 32 years. Together the couple recalls the people and places of Las Vegas' past from their points of view during this oral history interview. For Janice the stories begin in the 1930s after her family moved to Las Vegas from California. She was a youngster of about five. Among the topics she talks about is walking to Fifth Street Grammar School, graduating from Vegas High School, and fun had during Helldorado Days. In 1953, Robert arrived. He was a young man headed from Arizona to Colorado seeking work as a welder. He stopped in Henderson, Nevada and never quite made it out of the area. For the next two decades he worked construction and helped build many local landmarks. He shares stories about the range wars and about being accidentally exposed to radiation from the Nevada Test site.
This part of the collection was photographed as part of the UNLV Special Collections and Archives' Building Las Vegas collecting initiative started in 2016. This photograph series documents ongoing construction work at the Las Vegas Convention Center expansion site.
Archival Collection
UNLV University Libraries Photographs of the Development of the Las Vegas Valley, Nevada
To request this item in person:
Collection Number: PH-00394 Collection Name: UNLV University Libraries Photographs of the Development of the Las Vegas Valley, Nevada Box/Folder: N/A
The Contract documents series (1982-1989) contains high-level waste technical contract files pertaining to all three of the potential high-level waste geologic repository sites: WM-10, Basalt Waste Isolation Project (BWIP) in Richland, Washington; WM-11, Nevada Nuclear Waste Storage Investigations (NNWSI), State of Nevada; and WM-16 Repository, State of Texas. Contract files are identified by an alpha-numeric FIN (contract) number. See the LPDR User’s Guide available in Series I for a more detailed explanation on how to find documents and for a summary of each contract.
Archival Collection
Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Office Collection
Oral history interviews with the Genovese Family conducted by Shirley Emerson on August 20, August 29, September 05, and September 13, 2013 for the West Charleston Neighborhoods: An Oral History Project of Ward 3. In these interviews, the Genoveses (Robert, Ann, Joseph, Patrick, and David) discuss their lives in Las Vegas, Nevada since 1963. The family discusses the growth and development of Las Vegas and Robert and Anne's home in McNeil Estates. They talk about Robert’s career as a musician, the city’s recession in 1964, and the influence of organized crime in Las Vegas. Joseph recalls the development of Henderson and Boulder City, Nevada, his career in land development, and local government in the 1970s and 1980s. Later, Patrick discusses Las Vegas’ dependency on gaming industry taxes and the need for industry diversification. He talks about the lack of government investment in public goods, public education challenges, and water supply issues. Lastly, David recalls public school integration, attending a sixth grade center, and what it was like when the Nevada Test Site conducted nuclear explosions.
The Frank D. Rathbun Photograph Collection dates from approximately 1915 to 1968 and consists primarily of black-and-white photographic prints and some corresponding negatives taken by Frank D. Rathbun and Michael Moen, who resurveyed the various sites Rathbun visited. The majority of the images depict petroglyphs located throughout the desert southwest in Nevada, California, and Arizona, as well as documentary images of the construction of the Los Angeles Aqueduct and the Hoover Dam transmission lines. Additional material includes postcards from areas Rathbun visited in California, Arizona, and Nevada.