Oral history interview with Emory Lockette Sr. conducted by Dennis McBride on March 17, 1996 for the Boulder City Library Oral History Project. In the interview, Lockette discusses his work as a draftsman, civil engineer, and hydraulics engineer for the Bureau of Reclamation. He then describes his working conditions at the Bureau of Reclamation and administrative-level conflicts.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Ruth Hazard conducted by John Neal on March 08, 1975 for the Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas. Hazard goes in-depth about her knowledge of municipal politics and her husband’s friendships with a number of Nevada politicians. Hazard also briefly talks about her fascination with the above-ground atomic tests, speakeasies during Prohibition, and local anxieties about Las Vegas, Nevada “losing its identity.”
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Sam S. Earl conducted by Laura Button on March 09, 1981 for the Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas. Earl discusses the family’s early residence in a tent and their religious participation. He also discusses welfare benefits, gambling, the first members of the police force, and the Helldorado parade. Earl then talks about his work on the Hoover (Boulder) Dam, as a building contractor, and as a truck driver.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Clarence Ray conducted by Eleanor L. Walker in 1991 for the African American in Las Vegas: a Collaborative Oral History Project. In this interview, Ray provides details of his ancestry and upbringing, his education, and race relations in the western United States before 1930. He then moves on to his first visit to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1922, and his movements before settling permanently in the 1940s. He explains that the main source of employment for the relatively small Black population during the 1920s and early 1930s was the railroad, but a number were also in business. Mr. Ray provides thumbnail sketches of many of the early residents, and is particularly informative about "Mammy" Pinkston, Mary Nettles, the Stevens family, and the Ensley family. Systemic racial discrimination against Blacks developed in southern Nevada during the 1930s, and Mr. Ray provides some useful details on this along with his discussion of his career in gaming and his social and political activities.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Kim Bird and Pam Fogliasso conducted by Claytee D. White on February 08, 2013 for the Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project. Bird and Fogliasso discuss their experiences growing up in Las Vegas, Nevada, segregation in the city, and their years attending Rancho High School, including the segregation.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Laura and Don Garvin conducted by Michael Martocci on March 03, 1979 for the Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas. The Garvins provide details on their family background, the first sources of water in Las Vegas, Nevada, and the early city limits. They also describe their early occupations, religion, gambling, the Mormon Fort, and the effects of the Great Depression.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Jacqueline MacFarlane conducted by Claytee D. White on February 04, 2010 for the Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project. In this interview Jacqueline MacFarlane discusses her early childhood in Las Vegas, Nevada, her move to rural Nevada because of the Great Depression, her move back to Las Vegas, and meeting her husband David MacFarlane, an Air Force Cadet, at the Nellis Air force Base. She then discusses family life, Las Vegas in the 1950s and 1960s, and the various jobs she held on the Las Vegas Strip.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Horace Emery conducted by Barry Sarles on March 02, 1980 for the Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas. Emery discusses the local area around Nelson, Nevada and the early events that helped shape the area. Emery also discusses his work as a river boatman on the Colorado River, working on the Hoover and Davis Dams, and employment as a factory worker in Clark County, Nevada.
Archival Collection
The Ferron and Bracken Photograph Collection depicts Southern and Central Nevada and other western states from 1890 to 1961. The photographs primarily depict the development and growth of early Las Vegas, Nevada; mines and mining operations in Southern and Central Nevada; towns and mines in Nevada; and the Hoover (Boulder) Dam and the Colorado River.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Jack Ruggles Sr. conducted by Donald Parker on March 15, 1978 for the Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas. In this interview, Ruggles describes moving to early Boulder City, Nevada in 1931 as a child due to his step-father's supervisory job at the Hoover (Boulder) Dam. Ruggles describes life in Boulder City and later becoming a construction worker and helping to build the Basic Magnesium Plant in Henderson, Nevada. Ruggles goes on to discuss his career and experiences as a police officer in Las Vegas, Nevada. During the discussion of his career as a police officer, Ruggles describes his participation in maintaining racial segregation in casino properties for casino owners.
Archival Collection