Interview with James A. Gay III conducted by Perry Kaufman on April 12, 1972. Arriving in 1946 from Fordyce, Arkansas, Gay became the first African-American mortician in Las Vegas. He later worked as Assistant Manager of the Sands Hotel and Casino and Union Plaza while serving as an executive board member of the Culinary Union. Instrumental in the Las Vegas community, Gay worked to improved race relations, addressing social, economic, and civic issues. Gay was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 1988.
The Las Vegas Bugle Collection on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) History (1984-2002) consists of correspondence, newspaper clippings, photographs, and ephemera chronicling issues of the LGBT communities in Nevada. In addition to records of the newspaper, the Las Vegas Bugle, the collection also contains documents pertaining to the founding of the Gay Community Service Center of Las Vegas, Nevada; Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG); local political campaigns; and photographs documenting LGBT life and culture in Las Vegas, Nevada.