Interviewed by Catherine Bellver. Velma Haselton was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1914. She worked as an assistant bookkeeper for Hart, Schaffner and Marx and rose to Assistant Credit Manager. Velma worked at various jobs after she married for the second time and her son was born. She also represented the San Francisco CPA firm Lybrand, Ross Brothers and Montgomery (now Coopers Lybrand) in various capacities, both in California and St. Louis, eventually attaining the position of controller. Velma moved to Las Vegas for the first time in the 1950s, where she and her husband Don ran a coffee shop at the Park Lane Motel on South Fifth Street. Family requirements necessitated a move back to California. In 1971, Velma and her third husband, Charles Haselton, "retired" to Las Vegas. Velma immediately went to work as a cost accountant for United Pipeline, and later as an accountant for Kafoury Armstrong, a CPA firm. She eventually ran her own accounting business. Velma also held memberships and offices in various women's service groups.
Pete Barbutti (also spelled Barbuti) played the accordion, the piano, and the trumpet. He was also a comedian and appeared numerous times on the Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson and toured with Nat King Cole. He and his family have lived in Las Vegas since 1960
Ethiopian business owner Mahamed Youssouf became an American citizen in 1986. Born in Harar, Ethiopia, he recalls the hardships he had to endure during the Ethiopia-Somalia conflict. Coming from a family of tailors, he began making clothes with his father at a very early age. Mahamed’s recollections concerning his journey from political refugee to successful businessman demonstrates his resilience and determination to overcome obstacles and achieve his goals. Mahamed moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1985, where he rented a storefront in North Las Vegas. The name of his store was Uniform Plus and he focused mainly on making children’s clothes. His efforts proved lucrative as he began buying wholesale in Los Angeles, California, and selling clothes in Las Vegas on the weekends at the outdoor Swap Meet. After a fateful encounter, Mahamed became business partners with Eugene Hoffman, owner of Village East Cleaners. Mahamed firmly believes that communication is the key to socio-economic success. He views education as an investment and states that, “to have dialogue means better relationships.” When the Ethiopian government was overthrown, Mahamed returned home to Africa for a visit. He met his wife while there, got married, and started a family. Mahamed returned to America and bought a family home in Las Vegas. He dedicated his time to teaching his American born children more about Ethiopian culture and taught himself more about American culture— including the African-American experience in Las Vegas, racism, the Moulin Rouge, and the Westside.
Interview with Jerry Fox by Barbara Tabach on November 12, 2014. In this interview, Fox discusses his father's restaurant, Foxy's Delicatessen, which opened on the Las Vegas Strip in the 1950s, and his own business endeavors including the Tinder Box and an embroidery business.
Jerry Fox grew up in Los Angeles until his family moved to Las Vegas in February 1955, where his father opened Foxy's Delicatessen, the city's first Jewish deli. Jerry would go on to follow in his father's entrepreneurial footsteps, operating several ventures across different industries, including his own restaurant, Foxy Dog. Jerry sold Foxy Dog in 1975 after going through a divorce, the same year that Foxy's Deli closed.
The Las Vegas High School architectural drawings include blueprints for various improvements, expansions, additions, and renovations performed for the Las Vegas, Nevada high school between 1929 and 1972. The architectural drawing sets include site plans, floor plans, elevations, sections, building component details, and structural drawings.
The UNLV Libraries Collection of Harrah's Entertainment Promotional Materials and Reports includes financial reports, prospectuses, joint proxy statements, annual reports, equity research, clippings, press releases, press kits, and promotional materials for Harrah's Entertainment dating from 1962 to 2009.
The Jeanne Russell Janish Papers span the years 1833 through 1994 with an emphasis on 1894 to 1994. The materials of the illustrator and watercolorist include her school records, research papers, diaries, and personal correspondence. There are two original book manuscripts, dried flowers, hand-woven rugs, a variety of art supplies and tools, and approximately 140 watercolor paintings and pencil sketches of various scenes and subjects, created in China, Florida, and the American Southwest.
The Bill Moore Professional Papers are comprised of documents, designs, and promotional materials of show producer Bill Moore from 1950 to 2010. From the 1960s until the late 2000s, Moore and his partner George Arnold produced a variety of stage shows, from musicals and revues to his famous "on ice" productions like Nudes on Ice and Playgirls on Ice. Materials include three-dimensional set designs, photographic prints, financial records, promotional posters, and audio and video recordings of shows at casinos in Las Vegas, Laughlin, and Reno, Nevada, and Atlantic City, New Jersey.