Oral history interview with Valma Alvarez von Holt conducted by Claytee D. White on February 06, 2018 for the Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project. In this interview, von Holt discusses her early life and arriving to Pahrump, Nevada in 1994. She talks about her interest in amateur radio, raising horses, and purchasing forty acres of land. Von Holt recalls building a farm and her involvement in launching a local women’s group. Lastly, von Holt discusses the role women had during World War II and radio broadcasting during that time.
The Alan Cummings Research Files (1974-2004) are comprised of research files compiled by Cummings, an elementary school teacher for the Clark County School District (CCSD) in Southern Nevada. The files represent Cummings's work to persuade the Teacher's Health Trust, the employee benefit plan for the school district, to consider domestic partnership benefits for CCSD educators and administrators. Materials include personal correspondence, newspaper clippings, magazines, and court cases.
The Robert Worts Photographs depict the Corn Creek Ranch in Nevada from 1936 to 1939. Located northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada, Corn Creek Ranch was home to writer George F. Worts in the late 1930s. Materials in the collection include photographs of Worts, buildings on Corn Creek Ranch, and a camp on Mount Charleston.
On February 29, 1980, Annie Shum interviewed Lilly Fong about her experiences as an educator and resident in Southern Nevada. Born in Superior, Arizona in 1926, Fong would eventually move to Las Vegas after marrying her husband, Wing Fong. Prior to this move, she received her education in both China and Arizona; she later completed her master’s degree in education at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). In the interview, Fong talks briefly about her background and eventual move to Las Vegas. She describes how her educational career started at the historic Fifth Street School as a third grade teacher in 1950. Fong also lists several organizations of which she was a part, including the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) and the American Association of University Women (AAUW). Fong also mentioned that she and her husband opened their own Chinese restaurant, Fong’s Garden, on East Charleston Boulevard in 1955. Later in the interview, Fong describes her campaign for the Nevada State Board of Regents in 1974 where she would make several accomplishments in the development of UNLV, including the building of its Fine Arts Complex. Fong later talks about Chinese traditions in which she would take part as well as her life in China from 1930 to 1937. The interview concludes with Fong’s thoughts on the Asian Studies program at UNLV and her personal perspective on religion.