What's New In Special Collections

UNLV Libraries and UNLV Film Receive NEH Grant to Process, Preserve Howard Hughes Motion Picture Papers

The National Endowment for the Humanities announced today that the UNLV University Libraries and the UNLV Department of Film have received a $271,580 National Endowment for the Humanities’ (NEH) Humanities Collections and Reference Resources Award for their project, “Inventing Hollywood: Preserving and Providing Access to the Papers of Renegade Genius Howard Hughes.” 

The Tony Stark of his era. That is perhaps the most concise description of Howard Robard Hughes (1905-1976), arguably one of America’s most significant visionaries. Intuitive, mercurial, and insistent upon continual out-of-the-box innovation in everything he did, Hughes pushed himself and everyone around him to shape the future by looking beyond the possibilities of the present. 

He…Read More

Researcher Profile: Karan Feder

Nevada State Museum exhibit Les Folies Bergère: Entertaining Las Vegas, One Rhinestone at a Time
Image of Nevada State Museum exhibit Les Folies Bergère: Entertaining Las Vegas, One Rhinestone at a Time. Photo by Karan Feder

Our Researcher Profile series highlights researchers and who have used resources in Special Collections & Archives for a variety of projects ranging from articles and books to exhibits and documentaries and more. 

This post focuses on the work of Karan Feder, Guest Curator of Costume & Textiles, at the Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas and…Read More

Researcher Profile: Larry Gragg

Images courtesy of Missouri University S&T and Larry Gragg.

This inaugural post in our Researcher Profile series will highlight researchers and who have used resources in Special Collections & Archives for a variety of projects ranging from articles and books to exhibits and documentaries and more.

This post focuses on the work of long-time Special Collections patron Dr. Larry Gragg, who spent over 40 years as a history professor at…Read More

UNLV Libraries Datasets Open for Research with Pilot Project by Cory Lampert and Emily Lapworth

Las Vegas City Commission minute books
Las Vegas City Commission Records, 1911-1960. MS-00237.

This is part two of a two-part article on Collections as Data research at the UNLV Libraries.

Select Las Vegas City Commission Records are now available as a dataset that can be analyzed using computational research tools. Read on for more information, or go directly to the dataset at https://github.com/UNLV-Libraries/UNLV-Collections-as-Data/tree/master/Las-Vegas-Commission.

Cory Lampert, Head of Digital Collections, and Emily Lapworth, Digital Special Collections Librarian provide…Read More

Eadington Fellow Scott Boylan in Residence: March 2 - March 13

Eadington Fellow Scott Boylan with the Charles J. Hirsch Papers.

Scott Boylan, Professor of Accounting, Washington & Lee University, is our first Eadington Fellow of 2020. He will be exploring the professional papers of casino accountant Charles J. Hirsch (MS-00291) for his talk “Charles J. Hirsch and His Role in Advancing the Use of Statistical Sampling and Analysis in the Accounting Profession” which will be held on Friday, March 13 from 3-4pm in the Goldfield Room, Lied Library, UNLV campus.

The …Read More

What do we mean by “Collections As Data” (CAD)? by Cory Lampert & Emily Lapworth

Closeup of Las Vegas City Commission minute book
Closeup of Las Vegas City Commission minute book dating from 1911
Las Vegas City Commission Records, 1911-1960. MS-00237.

This is part one of a two-part article on Collections as Data research at the UNLV Libraries.

Select Las Vegas City Commission Records are now available as a dataset that can be analyzed using computational research tools. Read on for more information, or go directly to the dataset.Read More

New Online Oral Histories - February 2020

Digital Collections, part of Special Collections and Archives in the University Libraries, has digitized 10 oral histories and made them available on our website this month. These stories, collected as part of several projects from the UNLV Oral History Research Center, provide a detailed look at the many people different people who call Las Vegas and Southern Nevada home.

Our new online oral histories include:

Nevada History through Calendars of the Past by Ryan DiPaolo

Rhyolite Bottling Works 1909 Calendar

The Rhyolite Bottling Works from Rhyolite, Nevada calendar depicting Cascade Falls in Yosemite Valley, California, 1909, UNLV University Libraries Collection of Nevada Calendars, MS-00990

In celebration of a new year, Archival Backlog Elimination Project Archival Processing Assistant Ryan DiPaolo’s blog post highlights unique Nevada calendars from the UNLV University Libraries Collection of Nevada Calendars (MS-00990). DiPaolo recently received his MA LIS from the University of Arizona, Tucson.

The UNLV…Read More

Happy Thanksgiving from UNLV Special Collections and Archives

Orange menu from Don the Beachcomber restaurant

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

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

Edward C. Light Schematic Drawings of the Hughes H-4 Hercules "Spruce Goose" Seaplane by Jimmy Chang

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.

This post celebrates the Hughes H-4 Hercules "Spruce Goose" Seaplane which took its one and only flight November 2, 1947 and the Edward C. Light Schematic Drawings of the Hughes H-4 Hercules "Spruce Goose" Seaplane, 1941…Read More

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