The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (originally called Nevada Southern University) opened its doors in 1957. In only 50 years, the university grew from holding its courses in high school classrooms to the more than 300 acre campus it is today. To commemorate the growth and success of the university, the Oral History Research Center was asked to collect the stories of the university's beginnings. The OHRC recorded more than 60 interviews to complete this project.
One of the most important interviews of this project was with Dr. Carol Harter, a former president of UNLV. Harter served as president of the university for 11 years and retired just as the UNLV@50 project was commencing. In her interview, Harter discusses the importance of building Lied Library as the new center of campus, establishing Boyd School of Law, and erecting 17 other buildings to account for the growing student population. Just as importantly, Harter talked about the importance of becoming UNLV’s first woman president and pushing for the advancement of women in the academic setting. She stated, “I simply wasn’t prepared for that strong element in the culture in Las Vegas that a woman’s place was not at the top of the university for the most part.”
Another important interview from the project was with Alice Brown, a librarian who began working with the university in 1962 and stayed until 1984. Although originally from Ohio, Alice came to Las Vegas when her husband was offered a job at Basic Magnesium Inc. in Henderson and began working at UNLV. In her interview, she compares working in a university library with working in a public library, the importance of library faculty in the framework of the university, and how the library at UNLV became more prominent as the campus aged. She described the library as “the place you get to see everybody on campus — students, faculty, staff.”
The history of Las Vegas would not be complete without the inclusion of the history of UNLV. As a force for progress in southern Nevada, the university’s work has pushed for the success of the valley and continues to be a channel for growth in our community. The OHRC will continue to document UNLV’s history for years to come.
- Noah Price
Oral History Recordings
As part of this exhibition, we are specially including recordings of the actual oral history interviews. See the interviews of Carol Harter and Alice Brown below:
Recording of Carol Harter interview
Recording of Alice Brown interview
Notes:
Brown, Alice. “An Interview with Alice Brown.” By Claytee D. White. Oral History Research Center. October 19, 2005.
Harter, Carol C. “An Interview with Carol Harter.” By Suzanne Becker. Oral History Research Center. April 20, 2007.
