Oral history interview with Karin Sporn conducted by Claytee D. White on May 25, 2023 for the Southern Nevada Jewish Heritage Project. Karin Sporn grew up in Germany when her father was a member of Hitler's army. As a young woman, she converted to Judaism, and she shares how it was a difficult path. Much of her study and sacred rituals were done in Israel, and she shares that many signs along the way gave her encouragement, and she learned from others around her in Israel who shared their stories with Sporn. Eventually, her travel business brought her to Las Vegas, Nevada. After selling her and her husband's business, Sporn discusses how she was then free to volunteer for Jewish and civic organizations, and the leisure to sculp and to write her memoir, Just Peek Over the Fence.
Early Days poster consists of photographs of various people. Top left photo labeled: "February 1979 Edythe Katz (Yarchever) organizes new Holocaust Education Committee of JFLV [Jewish Federation of Las Vegas]" had a piece of paper stuck behind it with identification of people in photo: "Edythe _ _ Ralph Cadualla _ _ Karla _ Dwayne, Augi Orci, Frank Lamping" (handwriting is difficult to read, names may be misspelled). Additional people also identified in the other photographs include Lillian Kronberg, Carolyn Stewart, and Franklin Littel.
Oral history interview with Deanne Alterwitz-Stralser conducted by Barbara Tabach on November 01, 2014 for the Southern Nevada Jewish Heritage Project. Alterwitz-Stralser discusses moving to Las Vegas, Nevada with her husband and their four children to assume ownership of Walker Furniture, leading the design and merchandising elements of the business, and integrating into the local Jewish community.
Collection is comprised of scrapbooks from 1948 to 2009 documenting the career of Las Vegas, Nevada lawyer Neil Galatz, his family, and his involvement with the local Jewish community. Contents include news clippings, photographs, event programs, and other ephemera.
Part of an interview with Elliot Karp on December 17, 2014. In this clip, Karp talks about his vision of the Jewish Federation of Las Vegas as a tent under which all Jewish people can find a place to thrive.
Philip Engel is a Las Vegas CPA and was president of the Las Vegas Jewish Federation from 1983-1984. Engel was born in New York and educated at the University of Illinois and University of California Los Angeles where he earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting. Engel came to Southern Nevada in 1950 as part of a professional team responsible for installing a state-of-the-art- accounting system for the Desert Inn Hotel and Casino. Engel stayed in
In this interview, Mimi Katz discusses growing up in the Boston area and her schooling, and moving to Washington, D.C. working as a physiotherapist. She returned to Boston and met her husband, and she talks about moving to Las Vegas and adjusting to life here. They became involved at Temple Beth Sholom, and Mimi worked as a conventions coordinator at the Sands and the Sahara. She discusses moving around in Las Vegas from an apartment to a house in the John S. Park neighborhood, working for the Jewish Federation, and helping to develop the Holocaust education program with Edythe Katz, conducting oral history interviews with survivors. She continued working at the Convention Center in the 1980s, and is involved in the Lou Ruvo Center.
Everyone knows her as Mimi. She was born Miriam Green to immigrant parents in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1926. As a youngster she danced, excelled at school and enjoyed an abundance of sports. To pay for her higher education at Massachusetts School of Physiotherapy she worked at Raytheon Manufacturing. In 1957 she married George Katz who swept her away to their honeymoon in Las Vegas. It's a story that she loves to recall-they never left. She sent for her things and energetically settled in to her new hometown and marriage. Mimi found employment with the Clark County School District, began having children (three daughters), and making fast new friends. Many of these friends were from the founding days of Temple Beth Sholom, which roots her to the history of the local Jewish community. In addition, for a decade she worked in community relations for the Jewish Federation. She valued community activism and volunteered over the years for many organizations; such as Easter Seals, Jewish War Veterans, Parent Teachers Association and the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, and many more organizations over the subsequent decades.