What's New In Special Collections

Introduction to the Menu Project

UNLV staff working on menus in 1970

Special Collections Librarian Susan Anderl (seated left) with library staff member Linda Compton (seated right) and Wende Lestelle, student worker, 1979

Beginning in 1970, the UNLV Libraries Special Collections and Archives Division began collecting menus earnestly, including the collection of Henry J. Bohn, a publisher of hotel trade magazines and extensive collector of historic menus. Bohn had acquired the menus of Henri Bettoni, who worked in restaurants in London at the turn of the twentieth century. These early menus comprise the Bohn-Bettoni Menu Collection (MS-00793) and started the UNLV Libraries’ efforts to collect menus from across the world.

Early Special Collections librarians recognized the value of the menus to students at UNLV’s…Read More

Armed Services Editions: A Footnote to D-Day by Cyndi Shein

Candide and other Armed Services Editions from the C and D series, UNLV Libraries
Candide and other Armed Services Editions from the C and D series

Cyndi Shein is Head of Technical Services in Special Collections and Archives

In the hours leading up to D-Day, war correspondent A. J. Liebling observed an unexpected sight aboard the landing craft as it cut across the English Channel headed for the French coast. Rather than anxiously discussing the perils ahead, “...the soldiers were spread all over the LCIL [Landing Craft, Infantry Large] … most…Read More

Latinx Voices: Rodrigo Vazquez

Rodrigo Vazquez
Rodrigo Vazquez

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.

For Rodrigo Vazquez, Las Vegas' East Side will always be home.

"I was raised in Las Vegas, and have lived here with my family since I was 5," said Vazquez. "I was educated in the public-school system and attended three elementary schools, one middle school and two high schools here. I have lived and will…Read More

Eadington Fellow Yale Belanger: In Residence May 8 - May 31

Yale Belanger
Yale Belanger

UNLV University Libraries Special Collections & Archives and the Center for Gaming Research welcomes our latest Eadington Fellow, Yale Belanger, professor of Political Science at the University of Lethbridge in the province of Alberta, Canada. Belanger is a member of the Royal Society of Canada, College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists, author of the book Gambling with the Future, and editor of First Nations Gaming in Canada.

He will be using the Katherine Spilde Papers (MS- 00092) to explore how tribal…Read More

Las Vegas Age, Las Vegas Times newspaper collections available to search online

Nearly complete runs of two early Las Vegas newspapers are now available to view and search online thanks to a project from the UNLV University Libraries’ Special Collections and Archives Division.

With funding from the Commission for the Las Vegas Centennial, the Las Vegas Age, which was published from 1905-1947, and the Las Vegas Times, the city’s first newspapers published from 1905-1906, are available online through the UNLV University Libraries website and with portions soon to be available through the Library of Congress Chronicling America website.

“This is a day to celebrate the availability of an exciting new resource for Las Vegas history,” said Cory Lampert, head of UNLV Digital Collections and the co-principal investigator on the project. “These newspapers serve as a first draft of history for Las Vegas and are an essential tool for many researchers and history buffs who want to…Read More

Union Pacific Railroad: Unlikely Water Conservation Pioneers by Gayle O'Hara

Union Pacific Railroad: Unlikely Water Conservation Pioneers by Gayle O'Hara

Las Vegas Age newspaper clipping on water conservation dated February 20, 1942 from the files of the Union Pacific Railroad Collection (MS-00397)

In honor of the upcoming Earth Day celebration, Digital Collections Specialist Gayle O'Hara's blog post focuses on historical efforts at water conservation as uncovered in the Union Pacific Railroad Collection (MS-00397).  O'Hara recently received her MLIS from San Jose State University and is currently managing the…Read More

Eadington Fellow Dorothy Barenscott: In Residence April 16 - April 29

We are delighted to welcome Dorothy Barenscott, the first Eadington Fellow of 2019, to the Center for Gaming Research in Special Collections & Archives. An Assistant Professor of modern and contemporary art history and theory in the Department of Fine Arts in Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Barenscott is an art historian whose interdisciplinary research relates to the interplay between urban space and emerging technology and media forms in the articulation of a range of modern and postmodern identities.

Her research will explore how fine art was used to rebrand and redefine Las…Read More

Latinx Voices: Nathalie Martinez

Nathalie Martinez
Nathalie Martinez

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.

For UNLV junior Nathalie Martinez, being involved with the Latinx Voices of Southern Nevada project in the UNLV University Libraries Special Collections and Archives is a chance to not only connect with her own heritage, but to shine a light on the impact the Latinx…Read More

Paris Dreams, City Scenes: Joel Berman and the Themed Resort

Paris Dreams exhibit image
"Paris Dreams, City Scenes: Joel Berman and the Themed Resort" is a new exhibit curated by Peter Michel in the Flo Mlynarczyk Gallery on the third floor of Lied Library, pulling from the collection of Bergman Walls & Associates and the Paris design drawings.

Joel Bergman was one of the premier resort and hotel architects of his age. He worked for Martin Stern Jr. as project architect for the International Hotel (Las Vegas Hilton) and the original MGM Grand Hotel. He worked for Steve Wynn on the Golden Nugget (Atlantic City and Las Vegas), Treasure Island, and the Mirage. He designed for Caesars Palace and the…Read More

Marie McMillan: Las Vegas’ Pioneering Female Aviator by Christina Lamoureux

Left:  Marie McMillan in 1990 posing with one of her airplanes. Right:  Marie McMillan in 1994. From the Marie and James B. McMillan Papers (MS-00482).

Archival processing assistant Christina Lamoureux is a PhD…Read More

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