The Norman Kaye Papers span the years of 1952 to 1969 and are comprised of material from the career of Norman Kaye, a Las Vegas lounge entertainer and longtime poet laureate of Nevada. The materials contain correspondence, newspaper clippings, music manuscripts and poetry, and audio recordings from the Mary Kaye Trio.
The Mike Miller Papers (1971-2014) include advertisements, books, and paintings by Las Vegas, Nevada-based artist and graphic designer Mike Miller. Materials include photographs, art prints, advertisements, newspaper clippings featuring Miller's advertisements, casino advertisements, and books designed, written, or illustrated by Miller.
The Donald Welch Photograph Collection (approximately 1961-1981) is comprised of photographs of various golf tournaments hosted at the Desert Inn Country Club in Las Vegas, Nevada collected by Welch throughout his career as the Desert Inn's head golf professional. In particular, the collection includes two photograph albums depicting the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Sealy golf tournament in the early 1970s and a 25th anniversary Desert Inn Country Club commemorative photograph book from 1981.
The Norman Kaye Photograph Collection (approximately 1950-1970) consists of black-and-white photographic prints of Norman Kaye and the Mary Kaye Trio in performance at the Hotel Last Frontier in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Dr. Lonnie D. Spight grew up in northern Colorado, earned his bachelor's degree at Colorado State University, and his PhD at University of Nevada Reno. His interest in astronomy dates from his early years on the farm in Colorado, star-gazing in the fields at night. Before coming to UNLV, Lonnie worked for the Department of Defense on scattering cross sections and explosions. Working between Los Alamos and the Test Site, he was often in Las Vegas and had met most of the physicists at the university. He was invited midterm to take over a physics class for a faculty member who had fallen ill, and was offered a job the following fall of 1970. In the seventies when Dr. Spight arrived, the physics department was located in trailers, and the university campus was mostly desert. Lonnie served as chair of the department on several occasions, and was responsible for insisting that faculty members get involved in research, no matter how tight the budget. He worked on solar energy and far-field microwave analysis, and helped set up safety standards for the new laser technology. One of Dr. Spight's interests outside of physics is a love for classical music. He was a volunteer "Deejay" for 12 years with KNPR once it got started in 1980. Meanwhile, after 37 years with UNLV Lonnie retains his enthusiasm and love for teaching. Today he teaches quantum mechanics and hopes that one day he will be able to teach a particle physics course which ties together cosmology, the beginning of the universe, fundamental cutting edge physics, quarks, gluon plasmas, and more. He has the course materials ready to go and is looking forward to many more years at UNLV.