Oral history interview with Ruth Poirier conducted by Joanne Goodwin on February 05, 2003 for the Women's Research Institute of Nevada (WRIN) Las Vegas Women Oral History Project. Poirier opens her interview by discussing her partner Doris Pressler, who had passed away before the interview. She describes Doris' upbringing, her role in the first band at the Roseland Ballroom in New York, and explains how an all-women band in the 1930s and 1940s was a phenomenon. Poirier then discusses her own history, including how she became involved in music and all-women bands, and how she met Doris. Poirier describes in detail the importance of music to her family, the types of music she played, and what it was like to be a musician during the Depression. She talks about her relationship with Doris and recalls early interactions with other gay youths. Poirer ends her interview explaining why she and Doris decided to settle in Las Vegas, Nevada, and describes their impressions and involvement with the local LGBTQ+ community.
Archival Collection
Gay Pride 1996 (Dennis McBride, photographer) Buddies Together booth at Sunset Park. Ray Farmer, founder, seated on the left. (5-4-96)
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The Terry Wilsey Papers on the Las Vegas, Nevada LGBT Community (1979-2002) are comprised of records from the Las Vegas Gay Switchboard, the Nevadans for Human Rights, and other LGBT community groups based in Las Vegas, Nevada. The collection contains newsletters, agendas and meeting minutes, informational pamphlets, as well as photographs, programs, and a VHS recording of local theatre productions.
Archival Collection
The Cave Nightclub Records (1992-1994) are comprised of materials generated during the planning and construction of the Cave Nightclub in Las Vegas, Nevada. It opened in 1992 as a straight nightclub. It changed ownership in 1993, and reopened on September 3, 1993 as a gay nightclub and closed early in 1995. The collection contains policy documents, building plans, and promotional and publicity materials, as well as artifacts, including waiter uniforms from the nightclub.
Archival Collection
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The Stand OUT for Equality Records (2008-2011) contain correspondence, lobbying materials, press kits, promotional materials, expense reports, meeting agendas and minutes, certificates, and notes pertaining to the 2009 and 2011 lobbying efforts by Stand OUT for Equality for gay and straight domestic partnership benefits and transgender rights held in Carson City, Nevada. The collection also contains photographic prints of the 2009 and 2011 Equality Days in Carson City, copies of legislation related to domestic partnerships in Nevada, event invitations, newspaper clippings, and optical discs with digital copies of fliers, posters, logos, manuals, training videos, and photographs, as well as templates and budgeting information.
Archival Collection
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Michael Loewy was the founder of Desert Mountain States Lesbian and Gay Conference and the Lesbian and Gay Academic Union at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Loewy moved to California in 1987, but remained involved with the gay community in Las Vegas. In 2002 he graduated with a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of California, Santa Barbara. In 2003 he won a Foundation Award, "Honoring the Pioneers of Gay Las Vegas."
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