The Blanche Zucker-Bozarth Papers document education advocate Blanche Zucker-Bozarth's volunteer work and activism in libraries, children's advocacy, and women’s clubs in Las Vegas, Nevada from 1963 to 2005. The collection includes records, newspaper clippings, and photographs from her political activism and fundraising initiatives in Southern Nevada. The collection also includes buttons, video tapes, and journal articles on child abuse prevention, as well as records from Zucker-Bozarth's term as president of the Mesquite Club in the 1980s.
Archival Collection
The Nevada Desert Experience Records (1951-2009) are comprised of files from the anti-nuclear organization, the Nevada Desert Experience (NDE), as well as its predecessor, the Sagebrush Alliance, and those of earlier unincorporated protests at the Nevada Test Site (NTS). Materials include board of directors meeting minutes, financial records, scrapbooks, personnel records, event speeches, correspondence, newspaper clippings, cartoons and other artwork, newsletters, brochures, fliers, research files on nuclear issues and other anti-nuclear organizations, and congressional testimony. The records also contain audiovisual materials, photographic prints and slides, screenplays, manuscripts, and newspapers related to the NDE's media efforts.
Archival Collection
Liliam Lujan Hickey is best known in the state of Nevada for being the first Hispanic woman elected to the State Board of Education as well as for the enormous contributions she made while serving from 1998 to 2000. For this, an elementary school in Clark County bears her name. Despite many obstacles, Liliam has continually dedicated herself to standing up for the causes she believes in, such as providing preschool education to the underprivileged, preparing youth to enter the workforce, helping other Hispanics run for office, and proving that with enough courage anyone can accomplish their dreams. Born in Havana, Cuba in 1932, Liliam led a sheltered life that revolved mostly around her studies at a French Dominican school. She met her first husband, Enrique Lujan, when she was only sixteen and they wed soon after. Enrique was twelve years her senior, owned many casinos on the island, and provided a luxurious existence for Liliam and their three children. However, this lifestyle abruptly changed when Castro assumed power in 1959 and Liliam and her family were compelled to relocate to the United States. In Miami, Enrique assisted other refugees financially, hoping that his wealth would remain secure in Cuba. He was wrong. This left the family destitute. In addition to casinos, Enrique had been Cuba?s coach for the Olympics. He moved the family to York, Pennsylvania, where he hoped to find work at the York Barbell Company. Liliam, who had been accustomed to having maids and nannies in Cuba, found herself doing all the housework while she also worked in a factory. The change could not have been more dramatic and the living conditions became unbearable. The family chose to move to San Diego in a Volkswagen Minivan with the hope for a better life. The next few years brought many transitions. Things did turn around in San Diego, and Liliam she recalls her years in southern California as some of the happiest of her life. Liliam found a job working at the Scripps Clinic in La Jolla. After a few years, Enrique found a job in Las Vegas and the family moved again. In Las Vegas, Liliam gave birth to her fourth child, Mary, and life once again became financially difficult for the family. In 1972, the situation grew worse with Enrique?s untimely death. Liliam was a widow at forty years of age. She had to teach herself how to drive a car, write checks, and perform financial tasks that Enrique had insisted on managing while he was alive. Determined not to give up, however, she worked tirelessly to keep the family together. Amidst all this, a friend introduced Liliam to Tom Hickey, and after a brief courtship they were married in 1981. Within a few years, Liliam became active in politics, running for the State Board of Education. Her campaign manager advised her that voters would not be receptive to photos of a Hispanic woman on billboards, and to capitalize on the name “Hickey,” which was a recognizable name because her husband was an assemblyman. She took the manager?s advice and was elected in that campaign and for two more terms, the maximum limit for the office. After the first race, she proudly displayed her face on billboards across the state. During her time at the State Board of Education, Liliam dedicated herself to helping all children receive a better education in Nevada, not only Hispanics. She co-founded the Classroom on Wheels [COW] program, which brought buses to poor neighborhoods to provide pre-school education. She established Career Day, which pairs high schools students with business professionals in an effort to help them make the transition into the workforce. While the COW program is no longer running, 8 Career Day still operates and awards scholarships in Liliam?s name annually, which helps youth receive the educational opportunities they need to succeed. And she involved Hispanic youth in Boy Scouts by bringing ScoutReach to the Las Vegas valley. Lujan Hickey worked in a wide array of other community organizations. In the 1970s, she began to work with Circulo Cubano, which later became the Latin Chamber of Commerce, and she would later belong to the National Chamber of Commerce. A longstanding member of the League of Women Voters, Liliam saw the need to get Hispanics more involved in politics in the state. Her story is one of great inspiration, and when asked why she does it, she simply replies with a smile, “I love life.” Hickey?s narrative offers the reader a glimpse of the experiences of the Cuban refugee experience in the U.S. in general. Specific to Las Vegas, it provides a rare story of the experiences of early Latinas in the political and economic development of Las Vegas in the last half of the twentieth century.
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Detailed report with drawings and maps of the water system at Basic Magnesium, Incorporated.
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The Helen J. Stewart Photographs depict the Stewart Family from approximately 1860 to 1950. The photographs primarily depict Helen J. Stewart and her children as well as the Stewart Ranch (also know as the Las Vegas Ranch) in Southern Nevada. The photographs include the early Las Vegas, Nevada town site, landscapes of Southern Nevada and the American Southwest, mines and mining camps, railroads and railroad workers, the Las Vegas Fort (also known as the Old Mormon Fort), hotels and early businesses in Las Vegas, Native Americans and Native American artifacts, and postcards.
Archival Collection
The Six Companies, Inc. Hoover Dam Photograph Collection (1931-1935), consists of approximately 400 black-and-white photographic prints contained in two photograph albums and an additional twenty-one loose black-and-white photographic prints with ten corresponding photographic negatives.
Archival Collection
The University of Nevada, Las Vegas School of Nursing Records (1950-2019) contain records documenting the history of the UNLV School of Nursing. The materials include records from the nursing school's Alumni Association, including financial reports, bylaws, correspondence, and membership information; recruitment materials from the School of Nursing, including brochures, photographs, and program requirements; history of the School of Nursing, including photographs, newspaper clippings, a short summary of the program, and a short documentary film comprised of digital video files; and accreditation information, including newspaper articles, accreditation reports, and evaluations of the program from the Nevada State Board. The materials also include nursing student uniforms, caps, and nursing capes from the 1950s and 1960s.
Archival Collection