Oral history interview with Chris Spotted Eagle conducted by Claytee D. White and Stephen Pastorino on January 16, 2025 for the Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project. In this interview, Spotted Eagle recalls growing up on the Paiute Reservation in Las Vegas, and shares that part of his family is from the Moapa Band of Paiutes. Spotted Eagle's paternal grandfather, Raymond Anderson, was a fabricator and ironworker for YESCO where he helped create the "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign designed by Betty Willis. He shares how the reservation began as a 10-acre plot of land and is now over 4,000 acres. Growth followed various successful enterprises: a smoke shop, three 18-hole golf courses with a wedding chapel, and now, the cannabis industry.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Paula Sadler conducted by Claytee D. White and Stefani Evans on January 28, 2025 for the Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project. In this interview, Sadler describes arriving to Las Vegas, Nevada as a teenager with her mother from California. After graduating from Green Valley High School in 1994, she enrolled at Rollers Institute of Cosmetology in Commercial Center, and graduated as a manicurist. She then recalls renting a space in a salon before opening her own salon, A Harmony Nail Spa, in Commercial Center in 2004. In this interview, she discusses forming a business owners' association in 2007, cleaning up Commercial Center, and the original vision of Commercial Center by its original owners and developers, E. Parry Thomas and Jerome Mack. She describes the public ownership of Commercial Center's parking lots and sidewalks and the Clark County Commission's relationship with the property.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Dennis Wilson conducted by Lisa Gioia-Acres on October 2, 2007 for the All That Jazz Oral History Project. In this interview, Wilson discusses his early life in Arabi, Louisiana and moving to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1971. He recalls playing a variety of woodwind instruments for Wayne Cochran, the C. C. Riders, and traveling across the United States during the 1970s. After traveling internationally for a brief period, Wilson returned to Las Vegas and began playing for bands in Las Vegas casinos. He recalls working on musicals such as Avenue Q, Spamalot, and Phantom of the Opera. Lastly, Wilson discusses teaching music as a paraprofessional at Johnson Junior High.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Margaret Barnett conducted by Tina Weiss in 2005 for the UNLV Women's Studies Veteran Oral History Project. The interview covers Barnett's service in the United States Airforce during the Korean War. Print draft transcript available; no audio available.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with LaDell Miller conducted by Sandra Schulz on April 12, 2005 for the UNLV Women's Studies Veteran Oral History Project. The interview covers Miller's service in the United States Navy during World War II.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Jean Colby conducted by Stefanie Barkholz on March 23, 2005 for the UNLV Women's Studies Veteran Oral History Project. The interview covers Colby's service in the United States Air Force during World War II, the Korean War, and Vietnam.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Billie D'Entremont conducted by Gemma Lund on April 8, 2005 for the UNLV Women's Studies Veteran Oral History Project. The interview covers D'Entremont's service in the United States Coast Guard Women's Reserve during World War II.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Cheryl Gardner conducted by Tina Weiss on March 23, 2005 for the UNLV Women's Studies Veteran Oral History Project. The interview covers Gardner's service in the United States Marine Corps during the Vietnam War.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Virginia Mendoza conducted by Marcela Rodriguez-Campo on December 6, 2018 for the Latinx Voices of Southern Nevada oral history project. In this interview, Mendoza recalls her childhood and early years in Michoacán, Mexico. She shares the story of her immigration to the United States, detailing the harsh conditions she and her daughter encountered crossing the board at Tijuana, Mexico. Mendoza shares what it was like to live in California before she traveled to Las Vegas, Nevada to reunite with her husband in 1989. In 1990, she joined the hospitality industry and began working for Fitzgerald's Hotel and Casino and recalls her experiences working in Las Vegas. She details why she joined the Culinary Workers Union Local #226 and the importance of her job as an organizer, particularly as a bilingual individual.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Nathalie Martinez conducted by Rodrigo Vazquez and Barbara Tabach on June 24, 2021 for Latinx Voices of Southern Nevada Oral History Project.
Nathalie Martinez, one of the original members of the Latinx Voices project team, dicusses her personal history and the history of her parents who immigrated to the United States from Colombia and El Salvador. She shares her educational background and experiences working as an interviewer for the Latinx Voices project before its culmination and her graduation in 2021. Nathalie also talks about her work on the project's podcast and her work linguistically translating the interviews from Spanish to English.
Archival Collection