When Barbara Agonia arrived in Las Vegas in 1969 to pursue a Master's Degree in English, the University of Nevada Las Vegas was barely ten years old and the population of Las Vegas was just approaching 160,000 residents. At the time, she was 35 years-old and it was a decision and move that would forever change her life and higher education in Clark County. Barbara Agonia was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1934 to Robert Lewis Klinefelter and Suzanne Carter Klinefelter. At the time of Barbara's birth, her father worked for Brown Shoe Company in St. Louis. The family moved to Bunker Hill, Illinois when Barbara was still an infant. This was Mr. Klinefelter's hometown where a portion of the extended family still resided. In the late 1930s, Mr. Klinefelter got a job in a brass mill near Alton, Illinois, and he commuted there daily. When the United States entered World War II, Mr. Klinefelter tried to enlist in the army, but was rejected because he had two small children and because he worked in an essential industry. He decided to work in a non-essential industry and took a job at Montgomery Ward in Oak Park, Illinois. Barbara was in the third grade that year. Still unable to enlist, Mr. Klinefelter moved the family to Wabash, Indiana, and began working for General Tire in 1943. They moved to Logansport, Indiana in 1947. Agonia recounts that education has always been a significant part of her life, with the importance of a good education stressed in her life from early childhood forward. After graduating from high school in Logansport, Indiana, she attended Hanover College in southern Indiana, enrolling in 1952. Her educational experience at Hanover included a year studying abroad at the University of Exeter in Devonshire, England—an experience which Agonia credits as further cementing her commitment to education and her love of literature and language. She graduated from Hanover in 1957 with a double major in English and speech/ theater. Agonia spent her first years out of college teaching high school English, speech, and theater in west central Illinois and the next eight in northern Illinois. A little over ten years into her career, at the age of 35, she decided to pursue a Master's degree in English. Her sister, Martha, who at the time lived in Las Vegas, suggested checking into programs offered at the city's newly formed university. In 1969, Barbara moved to Las Vegas and enrolled in the English Department at UNLV. As Agonia was completing her degree in 1971, the community college system in Nevada was emerging and seeking faculty for the up and coming institution. Curious to know more about the new system, Agonia scheduled a meeting with the person in charge of hiring. Two hours later, she walked out with a contract in her hand, one of eight new faculty members at Clark County Community College, now known as College of Southern Nevada. In her early years with the college, Agonia did a great deal of public speaking on behalf on the newly formed system, promoting the new institution and reaching out to potential students. At the same time, she taught full course loads in composition and literature, and eventually became chair of the English department. Her new position and public speaking work on behalf of the college not only provided her contact with the local Las Vegas community, it ultimately became the catalyst in spurring her passion for community involvement, particularly working on behalf of women within the community. • • Vll As the 1980s approached, Agonia became actively involved in rape crisis education, at the urging of Florence McClure. Then, in 1980, Agonia was again in on the ground floor of community programming, when she and Beverly Funk, at the urging of Judith Eaton, the president of Clark County Community College, established a Women's Center on campus. The Center was initially set up to help women in a variety of life circumstances, including women who were wanting to return to school or who were new to the process of school altogether. The center eventually became the Re-Entry Center offering skill development, tutoring programs, and other forms of assistance for anyone interested in returning to school. In addition to her involvement in and commitment to public education, Agonia has also been involved in the Soroptimist International organization for business and professional women who work to improve the lives of women and girls in local and international communities. In the Las Vegas area, Soroptimist International of Greater Las Vegas worked to establish the Rape Crisis Center and the Center for Domestic Violence, which later became SafeNest. Agonia has been working with the organization since 1982. Through Soroptimist International, she also became involved in Friends of the Nevada Wilderness, an organization devoted to designation and long-term protection of Nevada's wilderness areas. As the representative for Soroptimist International, she traveled to Washington to lobby and testify in front of the senate for the establishment of Great Basin National Park. Agonia's work in the Las Vegas community over the past forty years has been significant. She counts Florence McClure, Geneva Douglas, and Jean Ford amongst her greatest influences. As she notes in her oral history, "I learned how to be radical from those women." She happily embraces the label of radical. This attitude surfaces throughout Agonia's experiences and recollections, and underscores her work and dedication to the interplay of local education and women's issues within Nevada.

On February 28, 1977, collector Steve Gortz interviewed Mike Meade (b. September 16, 1950 in San Francisco, California) about his life in Nevada. Meade speaks about growing up in Tonopah, Nevada before its decline in population, his move to Elko, Nevada and eventually to the city of Las Vegas. Moreover, he talks about the development of the Strip, the differences between Las Vegas and rural Nevada, as well as the changing environmental landscape. Meade also spends time discussing the controversy surrounding the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) dormitory at the time of this interview, the attitude of locals, and his opinion on brothels and prostitution. Lastly, Meade talks about the city’s pollution, the sports and recreation throughout the whole of the state and ends by reading a poem about Nevada from a Bicentennial book.

Born and raised in Las Vegas, Ann Clark Kanie, elementary teacher, exemplifies the love of teaching in Clark County. Her mother, Marie Larson Clark Dane, taught elementary school at Lincoln Elementary School for 35 years. Ann attended Lincoln Elementary with her mother, Jim Bridger Junior High, Rancho, and then graduated from UNLV in elementary education. She also began teaching, like her mother, at Lincoln Elementary in North Las Vegas but later changed to Wasden Elementary which she obviously admires. Ann recalls growing up in Las Vegas and the fun that she and her friends enjoyed: participating in Helldorado Week, renting horses at Tule Springs or Old Nevada, riding bikes to the Meadows Mall and the Black Hole at the Springs Preserve, sliding down Becker’s Super Slide on Decatur Avenue, watching Disney movies at the Huntridge Theater, playing miniature golf and ice skating at Commercial Center, and going to Lake Mead and investigating the Potosi Mines. Ann married, continued teaching at Wasden. Her only son has chosen to follow his mother’s footsteps, graduated from UNLV in English education and teaches and coaches at Cimarron-Memorial High School. Even though she admits that teaching has become a very difficult, time-consuming job, it is obvious that Ann Kanie loves educating students and has passed this love on to her son.

The website for Freed’s Bakery happily displays the headline: Baking Sweet Memories Since 1959. Today the third generation of Frieds (correct spelling of the family surname) is hard at work creating incredible wedding cakes, cookies, and delightful desserts for the Las Vegas valley. For this oral history interview, Joni Fried, her daughter Sarah Fried, and nephew Max Jacobson-Fried sit to share stories of working in the family business started by Joni’s parents Milton and Esther Fried. Joni has handed the reins over to the third generation who invest their delicious souls into maintaining this Las Vegas tradition. Their tales range from childhood memories of holidays baking and cleaning to their personal favorite desserts. They also explain the impact on their business as early adapters of computer technologies and social media marketing. In October 2017, Freed’s Bakery landed a TV show, Vegas Cakes, on the Food Network.

On March 14, 1978, Brian Corcoran interviewed Twenty-One dealer Daniel Kaminski (born November 17th, 1947 in New Jersey) about his life in Southern Nevada. The two discuss Kaminski’s occupational history and gambling practices amongst tourists. They then go in depth on the rise of gambling establishments across the United States and the impacts it may have on Las Vegas. The interview concludes with a discussion on the role of dealers in casinos.

On March 27, 1977, Frank Murillo interviewed housewife Marian Beltran Decaro (born September 7th, 1914 in Flagstaff, Arizona) in her home in Las Vegas, Nevada. This interview covers the history of Las Vegas, Nevada’s first Mexican restaurant. Mr. Decaro is also present during the interview. Additionally, Mrs. Decaro recalls the first atomic bomb test in Las Vegas and also offers an overview of the growth of the area, overall, including the development and demographic details of such distinct historical communities as the Westside.