Special Collections and Archives (SCA) promotes learning, discovery, and scholarship about Las Vegas, Southern Nevada, and the gaming industry. We also serve as UNLV’s university archives.
We partner with records creators and donors to preserve and provide access to rare and unique materials that document our region’s history. We work with users worldwide to support teaching and learning, create new knowledge, and contribute to the cultural vitality of our community.
Read more about our current projects and initiatives.
As part of our work, we offer the Community Archives Workshop program each February; reaching out to Las Vegas community organizations who may be interested in learning how to organize and preserve their own historical archives, digitize their materials, manage born-digital content, and/or conduct oral history interviews.
Learn more about the Community archives workshop.
SCA is highly engaged in the community; through events that invite community members to come and explore our collections. Some events are at Lied Library, while others take place with partners across the Las Vegas Valley. More about these types of events can be found on the Outreach page.
The Special Collections and Archives internship program provides MLIS* graduate students with an opportunity to gain hands-on experience working with archival and primary source materials.
Interns assist with strategic projects for SCA, and in the process develop proficiency in any of the following areas: archival standards and procedures, finding aid creation, preservation techniques, digitization techniques and metadata schemas, open source software development, Wikidata, instruction/outreach, depending on the intern’s interests or course requirements.
Learn more about internships in Special Collections and Archives.
Special Collections and Archives invites interested scholars to apply for a William R. Eadington Fellowship. The Eadington Fellowships are intended to facilitate on-site research into any aspect of gaming, gambling, or Las Vegas using collections at the University Libraries.
Learn more about the Eadington Fellowship program and the work of past fellows.
Special Collections and Archives staff create exhibits that feature a variety of materials from our many collections. Learn more about how archives play an essential part in documenting the rich history of our region.
Please stop by Lied Library or visit our reading room to view the most current exhibits.
Special Collections and Archives participates in several local, regional and national external funding agencies. This funding has made important work possible in the areas of archival collection processing, digitization, and preservation.
Find out more about recent projects by exploring the recent grant-funded projects and the list of sponsoring organizations.