The Kim Sisters, composed of three sisters, Sook-ja, Ai-ja, and Mia, came from Korea to Las Vegas in February 1959. Their first contract in America was to perform at the Thunderbird Hotel for four weeks as part of the China Doll Revue, the main showroom program. This engagement led to a successful career. Their popularity reached was at its height at the end of the 1960s when they performed throughout the United States and Europe. Sook-ja Kim is the oldest of the sisters. After his sister Ai-ja died in 1987, Sook-ja teamed up with her two brothers and continued to perform until 1989. Now semi-retired from show business, with occasional performances in Korea, she is working as a real estate agent. In this interview, she talked about her childhood, her career, and the family she has built since coming to America. Sook-ja was born in 1941 in Seoul, Korea as the third child of seven in a musical family. Her father was a conductor and her mother, a popular singer. After the Korean War, her mother arranged to send the Kim Sisters to America. When they came to Las Vegas, there were virtually no Koreans in the area. They depended on each other to take care of themselves. Some of the difficulties they had to adjust to in American were language, food, and cultural differences. Over the span of almost forty years in America, Sook-ja became acculturated without discarding her ethnic identity of family priorities. Her life-long guiding principle has been to adopt certain American values while continuing to keep her cherished Korean ethnic values. Through their performances, the Kim Sister informed the audience about Koreans and their culture. As the oldest of the group, Sook-ja was entrusted the care of her sisters, and later her brothers, the Kim brothers. Once she settled in Las Vegas, she brought more than forty members of her extended family to the city, contributing to the growth of the Las Vegas Korean community.
The Dennis McBride LGBTQ Poster and Sign Collection (1977-2018) contains posters and signs created by the Las Vegas, Nevada Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer/Questioning (LGBTQ) community, collected by historian Dennis McBride. These handmade and commercially printed signs cover events of particular interest to the Las Vegas, Nevada LGBTQ community, including social events, entertainment venues, political rallies, and Gay Pride events.
The Ralph Denton Legal Papers (1950-1993) consist of case files and legal briefs of civil rights attorney Ralph Denton. The cases largely involve civil rights issues and property claims in Las Vegas, Nevada. The files include cases representing individuals as well as companies such as Henderson Telephone Company, Lephrechaun Mining Company, and the Jockey Club Casino.
Oral history interview with Christian Giovanni conducted by Cecilia Winchell, Jerwin Tiu, and Stefani Evans on May 17, 2022 for the Reflections: the Las Vegas Asian American and Pacific Islander Oral History Project. In this interview, Giovanni describes her early life being born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada. She discusses her mother, Oywan, who first worked for the casinos before turning her focus to community building. Throughout Oywan's life, she did everything from start the first temple in the city to the first Thai newspaper, Las Vegas News. Giovanni mentions having what she considers a normal childhood, especially because of her more Western appearance, and did not embrace her AAPI identity until much later in life after she started helping her mother with different organizations. Currently, Giovanni is involved in many organizations, from the AAPI County Commission to the Thai Culture Foundation.
Susan Cowan grew up in Kansas City, Missouri, and enjoyed a loving childhood with her parents, older sister and grandparents, complete with family vacations to California and Mexico. Called to dancing ever since she can remember, this passion remained with her throughout her life. By the time Susan graduated from high school, she had moved five different times. This nomadic nature continued once being married and having two children, eventually settling in Boulder, Colorado. It was here that Susan began working in higher education, as a secretary at the University of Colorado-Boulder, where she met her second husband. During her 19 years at UC-Boulder, Susan advanced in her career, becoming the lead administrator for the Chemistry Department. It was also here that Susan took dance classes again, with some of the best in the field. Susan and her husband moved to Las Vegas after nearly 25 years in Boulder, where she quickly found a community to express herself in dance.
In 2011, Ian and Shanna Anderson moved into their McNeil Estates home with their two young children. Though both of the children born-and-raised Nevadan, neither Ian nor Shanna is. However, as the couple explains in this interview, letting their roots grow in Las Vegas has been quite easy. Ian has lived in Las Vegas since 1997 and Shanna since 2008. Ian was raised in Central corridor of Phoenix, where he explains he was in the minority as a white person. Shanna, by contrast, is a native of Ann Arbor, Michigan. They met, married at Taliesin West (Scottsdale, AZ) and settled in Las Vegas, where both work in the office furniture industry. Shanna and Ian share a passion for design, especially midcentury modern design. So when they felt the need to move from their Summerlin home, they looked for a house in the center of the city. Something clicked when they saw 2601 Mason Avenue. It was a burnt out shell of a dwelling, but their vision of what could be became a tale of imagination and patie
'United States Department of the Interior, Geological Survey. Open-file report 84-130, plate 4.' 'Prepared in cooperation with the Clark County Department of Comprehensive Planning.' 'Base from U.S. Geological Survey 1:100,000 , Boulder City, Ariz.-Nev., Las Vegas, Nev.-Calif., Mesquite Lake, Nev.-Calif., 1978, Lake Mead, Nev.-Ariz., 1979.' Geology from Malmberg (1965); Longwell and others (1965); Bell and Smith (1980); and J. R. Harrill, 1979.' Shows township and range lines. Scale [ca. 1:95.040. 1 in.=approx. 1.5 miles] (W 115°30´--W 115°00´/N 36°30´--N 36°00´). . Series: Open-file report (Geological Survey (U.S.)) 84-130. Originally published as plate 4 of Ground-water conditions in Las Vegas Valley, Clark County, Nevada. Part I. Hydrogeologic framework / by Russell W. Plume, published by the U.S. Geological Survey in 1984 as Open-file report 84-130.