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As we at Special Collections and Archives get ready to celebrate Thanksgiving with our families and friends, we’d like to share some menus of Las Vegas Thanksgiving dinners from years past and express our gratitude for the hard work across our division this year that has made the UNLV University Libraries Menu Collection open for research.
Over the summer, we received generous donations from Mark and Marianne Haley and the UNLV University Libraries Advisory Board that allowed us to hire…Read More
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. His thesis focused on the rediscovery, promotion, creation, and development of history through the connections between architecture and fiction, and he has worked with roofing and architectural companies before working as an archival assistant at UNLV Libraries Special Collections and Archives. He is currently working toward entering the fields of architectural history and conservation.
The original Las Vegas Land & Water Co., located on North 2nd near Fremont Street (PH-00002). From the Squires Family Photographs Collection.
The Digital Collections department in UNLV University Libraries Special Collections & Archives has completed work on a grant-funded project to digitize documents related to water resources from the Union Pacific Railroad Collection.
“The founding and growth of Las Vegas as a major metropolitan area is due to the railroad industry, specifically the Union Pacific Railroad,” said Cory Lampert, head of UNLV Digital Collections. “Given the vital issue of water resources management, we prioritized the…Read More
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.
Billy Marino received his BA and MA from UNLV’s Department of History where he studied environmental history and the American West before working as an archival processing assistant at UNLV Libraries Special Collections & Archives. His thesis focused on the ways environmental perceptions of the West shaped decisions regarding the space race during the 1960s, including extensive research the role of the Nevada Test Site (today called the Nevada…Read More
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
In today’s age of Google maps, Yelp, and the multitude of smartphone apps available for travel and leisure, taking a road trip is somewhat different from the post-World War II era, when long-distance car travel was a momentous occasion. The post-war economic boom of the 1940s and 1950s meant more people could afford cars, and this, along with more employers offering paid vacation time, meant that road trips were a popular family…Read More
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. But why were these menus practically the same, when one is from Sanford, North Carolina, and the other is from Ville Platte, Louisiana?
Palomino menu, approximately 1970-1980, UNLV University…Read More
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
The first item on the menu is octopus soup. I knew then that the menu was not as simple and normal as the cover led me to believe! The food described in the menu includes bug-centric meals such as roast locusts with mutto grass as well as Spanish worms in butter and wine sauce. Other options include various and unique meats including camel curry and saute badger. Other dishes on the menu…Read More
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. Seeing menus from a diverse array of countries including France, Australia, Benin, and even Kuwait has been amazing, but I never expected to come across a restaurant guide from El Salvador, my home country!
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.
As one of the Archival Assistants arranging and describing Special Collections and Archives’ large collection of menus, I come across menus that date from the late 1800s to early 2000s from all over the world. One particular menu I stumbled upon dates from around the late 1960s, with intricate artwork that caught my attention immediately.
Latinx Voices of Southern Nevada is an oral history project collecting the stories of our regions diverse Latinx citizens. This series highlights the UNLV students who are working as oral historians on this UNLV Oral History Research Center project.
When her family moved to Summerlin in 2007 from the predominantly Latinx neighborhood of East Hollywood in Los Angeles, Monserrath Hernández went through a period of culture shock.
"I had never really felt out of place before, until we settled in Summerlin. For a long time I had trouble feeling like I…Read More
