The Perry Kaufman Papers (1930-1974) are comprised of research material gathered by Kaufman for his doctoral dissertation, "The Best City of Them All: A History of Las Vegas, 1930-1960." Kaufman's research focused on the Las Vegas, Nevada Chamber of Commerce's role in promoting Las Vegas as a tourist destination. The collection primarily consists of newspaper clippings from the
Archival Collection
The Elmer R. Rusco Collection on Ethnicity and Race in Nevada (1964-1972) contains correspondence, court cases, employment information, and research materials compiled by Rusco for a book he was writing on race relations in Nevada.
Archival Collection
The Jane Ham Legislative Papers (1980-1981) document the legislative activities of Nevada Republican Assemblywoman Jane Ham during the 1981 legislative session. The collection consists of Legislative Bureau correspondence, memos, pamphlets, and draft legislative bills. Also included are reports, studies, and informal polls from private individuals and lobby groups expressing response to pending legislation.
Archival Collection
Anna Peltier, owner and founder of ARIA Landscape Architecture in Las Vegas, Nevada, is a transplanted farm girl and a musician. She was born in 1978 on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in Escanaba, Michigan, where she and two brothers were the second generation to grow up on their parents’ (and formerly their grandparents’) farm. She studied music performance at Michigan State University but after discovering her love of landscape architecture early in her college career, she changed majors and earned her degree in landscape architecture. Moving to Las Vegas in 2007, she first worked for JW Zunino Landscape Architects. While with Zunino she did design work for Lorenzi Park and designed the award-winning Cactus Avenue Interchange. As ARIA’s principal designer, Anna designed Discovery Park in Pahrump, Nevada, and the USA Parkway between Lake Tahoe, California, and Reno, Nevada. In 2013, when Anna opened ARIA, she carefully chose the name of her business. First, for practical reasons she want
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Minnesotan Don Laughlin landed far from the land of (more than) 10,000 lakes. His office 90 miles south of Las Vegas in the eponymous town of Laughlin commands an unimpeded view of a very different landscape from that of his youth. Here, where the Colorado River flows south through one of its narrowest channels, Laughlin arrived in about 1966 and purchased what would become the Riverside Resort Hotel and Casino. The endeavor was so successful that the then-settlement of 10 to 15 people at that tiny spot on the river grew to be an unincorporated town housing more than 7,000 people in 2010. Today, Laughlin the man continues to promote and support Laughlin the town via flood control projects and infrastructure development. In this interview, Laughlin sits amid the antique slot machines in his office and enjoys the view as he recalls his childhood on the family farm in southern Minnesota, and talks about leaving the farm in the late 1940s for nearby Owatonna to do watchmaking and watch repairing while simultaneously running a slot machine and pinball parlor. After visiting Las Vegas on vacation, he arrived permanently in 1952 and bartended at the Thunderbird Hotel until he bought his own bar and restaurant in Downtown Las Vegas, which he named Laughlin’s Made Right Café. After selling the café, he bought the 101 Club in North Las Vegas. He began searching for a casino for a casino to buy, seeking only those located on the border of a state that did not allow gambling. When he found the small hotel/casino on the Colorado River he purchased it. He talks of building an airstrip across the street and making daily trips to Las Vegas to buy groceries, beer, and toilet paper-essentially, everything one would need to run a hotel, restaurant, and casino-sometimes making three trips in one day. He continues to own and manage his hotel/casino at the age of 85, and he is in his office every day, all day, seven days a week. He gave up flying last year because he claims he’s too old to pilot his own aircraft. So is especially advantageous that the town that bears his name can now supply almost everything that he and the Riverside Resort Hotel and Casino need.
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Included in this oral history are reminiscences of Sonja Saltman's personal non-Jewish heritage in Austria, the importance of her grandmother in her life, and how she recalls becoming part of the Jewish community.
Sonja Saltman is a psychologist and philanthropist in Las Vegas, Nevada. She is executive director and co-founder of the Existential Humanistic Institute, a non-profit organization based in San Francisco, California that offers training in existential-humanistic therapy and theory. In 2003 Sonja and her husband Michael Saltman founded the Saltman Center for Conflict Resolution at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) William S. Boyd School of Law. The Saltman Center is focused on research, teaching, and public service related to "the advanced study of the nature of conflict and how to resolve it." A native of Austria, Sonja Saltman also serves as the Honorary Consul for Austria in Las Vegas. The Saltmans are involved with multiple charitable organizations and initiatives, both locally and abroad. Sonja Saltman has served on the boards of the Anti-Defamation League, Nevada Women's Philanthropy, and the Black Mountain Institute. Projects that the couple has supported include the rebuilding of homes and bridges is Bosnia, and Streetball Hafla, a basketball program to improve relations between Jewish and Arab teenagers in Israel. In 2014 Sonja and Michael Saltman were recognized as Distinguished Nevadans by the Nevada System of Higher Education. Included in this oral history are reminiscences of her personal non-Jewish heritage in Austrian, the importance of her grandmother in her life, and how she recalls becoming part of the Jewish community.
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Helen Jane Wiser Stewart was born in 1854 in Springfield, Illinois. When she was nine years old, the family moved to Nevada, and then to Sacramento, California in 1863. Helen was educated in Sacramento and in 1873 she married Archibald Stewart in Stockton, California.
Person
The Jay Sarno Photograph Collection (1947-1983) contains photographs from hotel and casino developer Jay Sarno. The photographs primarily depict Sarno and his family. The photographs also depict some of Sarno's development projects, including Circus Circus, Caesars Palace, and the Grandissimo. The photographs depict construction of the hotels, events, and famous figures.
Archival Collection
The Marjorie Barrick Museum of Natural History Records (1939-2003) detail the creation of the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Natural History in Las Vegas, Nevada founded by Richard H. Brooks, a professor of anthropology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The records are comprised primarily of correspondence between Brooks and members of the Southwestern Anthropological Association (SWAA), the Society for California Archaeology (SCA), and the meetings and exhibitions of the Nevada State Museum. The collection also contains financial statements that describe expenses for supplies, research, and excursions. Also included are anthropological, archaeological, and historical publications, as well as administrative files and Richard Brooks' correspondence with the Nevada Archaeological Survey (NAS). The collection also includes architectural floor plans for the Classroom and Physical Education, the original space that was converted into the museum in 1980, and plans for the redesign of the Barrick Museum and the Harry Reid Environmental Research Center addition.
Archival Collection