Kepper, Anna Dean, 1938-1983

Anna Dean Kepper was Curator of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) Library Department of Special Collections from 1973 until her death in 1983. After attaining degrees in museology and American folk culture from the State University of New York in Oneonta, New York, she moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1973. Kepper was active in various university affairs and served on numerous committees including budget and planning, procedures and policy, public relations, the Museum of Natural History, and beautification.

In 1974, she founded the Association for the Preservation of the Las Vegas Mormon Fort, which later became the Preservation Association of Clark County. Kepper was a member of the Preservation Association of Clark County, the Southern Nevada Historical Society, the Boulder City Museum Association, the Nevada Historical Society, the Nevada State Library Association, and the American Association for State and Local History Preservation, for which she served as adviser from Nevada.

Kepper was a recipient of the Distinguished Service Award from the Nevada Historical Preservation Conference in 1980 and received the Certificate of Merit from the Southern Nevada Historical Society in 1982. She was also honored by the Boulder City Museum and Historical Association for her work to list Boulder City as a historical site on the National Register. She served as adviser to the Junior League for the restoration of the Beckley House at the Museum of Southern Nevada and helped move the Houssels House to the UNLV campus where it served as the home of the architecture school.

UNLV posthumously awarded Kepper a Master of Public Administration for which she had passed her final comprehensive examination eighteen days prior to her death. Kepper died on December 21, 1983.

Source:

Hopkins, A.D. "Anna Dean Kepper." Las Vegas Review-Journal. September 12, 1999. http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/anna-dean-kepper