Ron Lawrence is one of the busiest people in the gay community, so I want him to know how much I appreciate his reserving time for me so that I could complete this oral history interview. The importance of his work toward the well-being of the gay community in Las Vegas cannot be measured, and much of what he's accomplished and otherwise made possible will live long after he leaves us. With Ron's consent to this interview, our knowledge of Nevada's gay history is greatly enriched and our record preserved.
The Bill Schafer Papers (1980-2018) contain personal and professional papers of Las Vegas, Nevada journalist and publisher, Bill Schafer, and photographs from various LGBTQIA+ related events in Las Vegas. The materials include files related to Schafer's work managing the Las Vegas Night Beat and Las Vegas Bugle publications. The collection contains copies of various LGBTQIA+ directories and photographs from events such as the Las Vegas Pride parade and the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Southern Nevada's annual Honorarium. Also included are photographs and papers from Schafer's involvement with the Imperial Royal Sovereign Court of the Desert Empire, Inc.
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.
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.
The University of Nevada, Las Vegas Solar Decathlon Records (2013-2021) are comprised of records documenting the University of Nevada, Las Vegas's participation in the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Decathlon collegiate competition. The collection includes records created by the 2013, 2017, and 2020 UNLV teams (Team Las Vegas) in designing and building their respective competition entries: DesertSol, Sinatra Living, and Mojave Bloom. Records include competition application files, working project files, As-Built submittal packets, and promotional and marketing files for the competition. The majority of records in this collection represent the 2017 competition. Archived websites and social media accounts associated with Team Las Vegas and the Solar Decathlon competition are also included in the collection. The records document Team Las Vegas's efforts in designing and building energy efficient homes for the Solar Decathlon competition.
The Shar Rednour and Jackie Strano Papers on S.I.R. Productions (1981-2015) contain the personal and professional papers of Rednour and Strano, two lesbian filmmakers, writers, and activists from the 1990s until the 2010s. The collection contains the personal papers of both Rednour and Strano, including correspondence between the pair before they married in 2006. The collection also contains the professional files of Rednour and Strano in their capacity as creators of SIR (Sex, Indulgence, and Rock and Roll) Video in 1998. Materials include financial documents, correspondence, scripts and editing notes, crew information, publicity photographs, and direct order forms for S.I.R. Productions. In addition to records on SIR Video, the collection also contains a number of sex-positive and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) publications from the LGBTQ scene in San Francisco, California during the 1990s.
Throughout his career, former Clark County School District Superintendent (1989–2000) Brian Cram took his father's words to heart. He heard them repeatedly over the years as he watched and later, helped, his father clean classrooms at Robert E. Lake Elementary School: this place—the classroom—this is the most important place. Cram was born in Caliente, where his father worked on the railroad. In 1939, when Cram was a toddler, the family moved to Las Vegas and his father found work first as a sanitation engineer at a hospital, and then at CCSD as a custodian. The elder Cram, who spent his formative years in the Great Depression, prided himself on doing "good, honorable work" as a custodian, because the work—the classroom—mattered. Even so, he wanted more for his son. Cram largely ignored his father's advice during his four years at Las Vegas High School, where he ran with The Trimmers car club, wore a duck tail and a leather jacket, and copped an attitude. Cram's swagger, though, d