The James D. O'Brien Photographs (approximately 1900-1929) are comprised of photograph albums and scrapbooks created by James D. O'Brien, surveyor, mining engineer and prospector. O'Brien's photographs feature locations throughout Central and Southern Nevada and Death Valley, California. Photographs depict life and work in mining camps; miners and their families; local Shoshone Indians; mining company financiers; landscape and mining towns. Locations include but are not limited to Pahrump, Nevada; Pioneer, Nevada; Rhyolite, Nevada; Wahmonie, Nevada; and Death Valley, California.
Several people, including two Pageant contestants, look on as Las Vegas Mayor Oran K. Gragson (left) assists Sammy Davis, Jr. (center) in cutting the ribbon for the Las Vegas Pageant of Progress. Oran Kenneth Gragson (February 14, 1911 – October 7, 2002) was an American businessman and politician. He was the longest-serving mayor of Las Vegas, Nevada, from 1959 to 1975. Gragson, a member of the Republican Party, was a small business owner who was elected Mayor on a reform platform against police corruption and for equal opportunity for people of all socio-economic and racial categories. Gragson died in a Las Vegas hospice on October 7, 2002, at the age of 91. The Oran K. Gragson Elementary School located at 555 N. Honolulu Street, Las Vegas, NV 89110 was named in his honor. Samuel George "Sammy" Davis Jr. (December 8, 1925 – May 16, 1990) was an American Jewish entertainer. Primarily a dancer and singer, he was also an actor of stage and screen, musician, and impressionist, noted for his impersonations of actors, musicians and other celebrities. Davis was awarded the Spingarn Medal by the NAACP and was nominated for a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award for his television performances. He was the recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors in 1987, and in 2001, he was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
William Dean Whitaker was born in 1925 and raised in a suburb of Los Angeles, California. Dean, as he is known, talks briefly about his parents and his brothers, for his youth quickly ended when he joined the Air Force and became an aviation cadet once he had turned 18 years old. The year was 1943 and World War II was raging. He became a member of the 398 th Bomb Group and flew twenty missions before being captured by the Germans. In this oral history, Dean talks with vivid recollection of the day he was captured and details of being a POW in Germany. Among his anecdotes are those of his mother's unwavering belief that he would return home, the humanity of a German soldier, and of meeting Gen. George Patton. Included are photos and excerpts from his personal history of his life during the war. Dean and his wife Lucille moved to Las Vegas in 1990.
Transcribed from attachment on the back of the photo: "Sands Hotel before 1962 left to right Dr. James B. McMillan, Dr. Charles I. West, Sammy Davis, Jr., Mons. James B. Empey, Pastor of St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church. Presenting an "Award of Merit and honorary fellowship" to Sammy Davis, Jr. and Will Maston trio from the George Washington Carver Memorial Institute of Washington, D. D. for outstanding contributions to the arts, humanities, and better race relations."
Sands Hotel and Casino: 3355 Las Vegas Boulevard South