What's New in Special Collections

Thanksgiving Dinner menu, Don the Beachcomber, Sahara Las Vegas, approximately 1963, UNLV University Libraries Menu Collection, MS-00436

This collection highlight blog post was written by Jimmy Chang, an archival processing assistant on the Archival Backlog Elimination Project. Jimmy Chang received his bachelor's and master's degrees in architecture from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas School of Architecture with a tract in hospitality design.

Atmospheric nuclear bomb test at the NTS in the 1950s.

Image Credit: Film Transparency showing an atomic explosion at the Nevada Test Site, circa 1950s,” L.F. Manis Photographs, 1900-1969, PH-00100. Special Collections & Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.

The Travel Mat for US 95 shows tourist attractions from Lovelock, Nevada to Blythe, California, featuring the Nevada Test Site and Boulder Dam, approximately 1940-1970, UNLV University Libraries Menu Collection, MS-00436

Over the course of sorting and processing thousands of historic menus, I have come across nearly identical looking menus from completely different restaurants. These menus featured a design of visually stimulating patterns of dots that created a sort of optical illusion effect in the background of the interior, and even more interesting patterns on the back. Inside, different sections of the menu were neatly squared off and organized, with some of them accompanied by charming and detailed illustrations of food.

In the early stages of the menu project, I came across a menu that had nothing on the front except the text “If you’re game.” The black text stood out from its white canvas background, but other than that, there was nothing exceptional about this menu. Until I opened it.

If You're Game menu, approximately 1980-1990, UNLV Universities Libraries Collection of Menus, MS-00436

From sewing music scores in the preservation lab to categorizing and identifying menus in the menu collection, working in the Special Collections and Archives division of the UNLV University Libraries has enriched my knowledge. This summer, I have been working on the menu project with four other undergraduate students. Coming across menus from old Las Vegas casinos such as the Stardust or the Desert Inn, as well as menus with elaborate designs and food items from different states, has sparked my curiosity about the evolution of gastronomy.

The 1960s was an era of counterculture, rejecting  the conservative norms and the social conformity of the earlier decade. From the anti-war movement, civil rights movement, to second wave feminism, the 1960s left a mark in the history of the United States. The psychedelic movement that occurred during the 1960s influenced music, art, literature, and even fashion of the decade.