Oral history interviews with Maude Woo conducted by Barbara Tabach on February 11, 2007 and February 25, 2007 for Reflections: the Las Vegas Asian American and Pacific Islander Oral History Project. In these interviews, Woo discusses her early childhood in Korea, taking care of her siblings, and difficult memories of war. Later, she discusses travelling to the United States and having foster parents, and going to college for nursing. She married her first husband and they had two sons, David and John. The family moved to Orange County, California where Maude raised the family and eventually started a private practice. Later, Woo divorced her first husband. She married her current husband, Leland, in 2011. She discusses her family, the importance religion has in her life, and coming to Las Vegas, Nevada to retire. Digital audio and photographs available; digital transcript draft available.
Kelly Adams interviews Lendon Barney (b. 1925) about his experiences as an early resident of Bunkerville, Nevada. Barney also discusses his membership in the Mormon church, as well as his career as a music teacher for schools in Clark County. Barney also describes some of the early development and changes in Nevada, such as the population growth, changes in housing prices, and the building of highways.
The Las Vegas African American Community Conversations is a four part, one hour round table conversation with local Las Vegans. They share their powerful stories and great history, with topics ranging from “Migration, Civil Rights, Education, Church, Entertainment and the Early Legal Community”. Part Two: A conversation about “Education, Economy and Integration” MODERATOR- Sonya Horsford Ed.D. PANELISTS- Dr. Esther Langston (Professor UNLV) Verlia Davis-Hoggard (Director of Clark County Social Services-Retired) Idan M. Gaines (Regional Representative for Senator Harry Reid) Dr. Linda Young (President-CCSD Board of Trustees)
Oral history interview with John Wittwer conducted by Perry Kaufman on May 17, 1972 for the Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas. Kaufman discusses living in Santa Clara, Utah and describes families from Switzerland migrating there as converts to the Latter-Day Saints Church.
Oral history interview with Mary Ellen Osborn Lake and Thomas Lake conducted by Fred Wilson on February 18, 1951. Mary Ellen discusses arriving in Las Vegas, Nevada in 1904. The Lakes talk about the first Methodist churches in Las Vegas, their involvement, and members of the church community.
Rob Mullaney interviews William “Bill” Brymer (born 1916 in Cambria, Illinois) about his experience living in Las Vegas, Nevada. Brymer explains how he moved to Las Vegas for the gaming attractions and eventually married and had two children. Brymer worked as a craps dealer at the Frontier Club in Downtown Las Vegas and also at the Last Frontier on the Las Vegas Strip. He later worked as a pit boss at the Sahara. Brymer also discusses a visit by Lyndon B. Johnson, the early atomic testing, the importance of religion in his life, changes in climate, the development of the Strip, the existence and decline of agriculture, and some of the entertainers who performed on the Strip.
It seems counterintuitive that a man who was raised a Mennonite, spoke Pennsylvania Dutch before he spoke English, and was destined to quit school after eighth grade to work on the family farm would grow up to become one of the most progressive and visionary library directors in the United States. His participation in the Building Las Vegas project results from his being responsible for building twenty libraries in Clark County during his 1971–1994 tenure as director of the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District. One of his first controversies was to insist on going to high school after his father demanded he quit. After graduating high school he went to Nigeria on behalf of his church, serving there for five years. Upon returning to the U.S., he found work at the Fort Wayne Library, albeit he was limited by how far he could advance because of his limited education. After attaining his library degree Indiana University at Bloomington he served as director at the Columbia City Library