This collection is comprised of research files dating from approximately 1980 to 2021 created by Boulder City Nevadan, Dennis McBride, primarily in support of his book, Out of the Neon Closet: A History of Gay Las Vegas on the history of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, gay, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community in Southern Nevada. Materials in this collection also include ephemera and clippings documenting LGBTQ establishments and organizations in Las Vegas, biographies of individuals, and other issues pertinent to the LGBTQ community. This collection also includes some materials about the LGBTQ community and their issues in Northern Nevada. The collection represents McBride's overall efforts to document and preserve the history of the LGBTQ community in Nevada.
The Las Vegas LGBTQ Community Center of Southern Nevada Audiovisual Collection contains seventeen VHS tapes which contain recordings of "Beyond the Rainbow" a Gay and Lesbian Center of Southern Nevada Cable show; the LGBTQ Center of Southern Nevada 1998 and 1999 Honorariums; and news program relating to "Pride Ride 2000." "Beyond the Rainbow" was a weekly cable show sponsored by the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Southern Nevada created not just to reach the LGBTQ+ community, but anyone interested in learning more about the community and the issues faced by its members. Programming explored a number of topics including employment, personal safety, families, relationships, diversity, and spirituality.
The LGBTQ Las Vegas records are comprised of Dennis McBride's official papers and correspondence from 2016 to 2017 about his pictorial history book, LGBTQ Las Vegas, on the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community in Las Vegas, Nevada. The records consist of correspondence on the acceptance of McBride's book proposal as well as a memorandum agreement. The records also contain printed copies of electronic correspondence between McBride and Arcadia Publishing as well as correspondence from McBride requesting photographer's permission to include their work in his book. The records also include a proof copy of the book with McBride's annotations.
The Dennis McBride Collection on Las Vegas, Nevada LGBTQ Organizations (approximately 1984-2008) contains photographs, magazines, and documents relating to various LGBTQ organizations and events in Las Vegas, Nevada. Photographs of prominent community members, including Strutt Hurley, William "Bill" Schafer, Rob Schlegel, and Dennis McBride attending events such as National Coming Out Day and pageants organized by the Southern Nevada Association of Pride, Inc. (SNAPI). Also included in the collection are magazines, newspaper clippings, and documents relating to various issues such as Nevada's "Question 2", a ballot measure that prevented same-sex marriages from being conducted or recognized in Nevada; offical reports on the AIDS epidemic; and student organizations like Students for an Equal America (SEA) and Human Understanding Despite Differences Lifts Everyone (HUDDLE). This collection also contains digital scans of some of the photographs in the collection.