What's New In Special Collections

Dorothy Keeler: Deputy County Clerk and Motorist, by Angela Moor

Angela Moor, UNLV PhD candidate and Special Collections intern, 2015

Before beginning my internship in Special Collections this summer, I hoped I might come across materials that would be useful for my doctoral dissertation about the history of weddings and divorce in Las Vegas during the 1930s and 1940s. When I worked on the Dorothy Keeler Papers (MS-00195), I was excited to find some great materials about the early Las Vegas wedding industry and 1930s in Southern Nevada.

Dorothy Keeler portrait, undated

Dorothy Keeler and her husband Charles came to Las Vegas from Reno in the late 1920s. Charles Keeler…Read More

UNLV Special Collections in the News

Image featured in the Mid-Century modern exhibit in Special Collections. from the Glenwood Development brochure, Farnsworth Collection, MS-00177

We are thrilled that the work of Special Collections staff has been the subject of recent feature articles in the local Las Vegas press:

The French Connection exhibit curated by Karla Irwin was highlighted in the Las Vegas Weekly : UNLV Exhibit Takes Historical Look at the Feather-Decked Icon of the Vegas Showgirl.…Read More

Las Vegas Pride! by Franklin Howard

For many in the LGBT community, summer is a season of travel and celebration. Beginning in June, cities across the United States hold LGBT Pride parades and festivals that draw thousands from the community and its allies. Las Vegas is no exception—the Las Vegas Pride Night Parade will be held on September 18th this year. The Southern Nevada Association of Pride, Inc. (SNAPI) has been in charge of planning Las Vegas LGBT Pride since 1995 and Special Collections has some of the records of one of its executive members, Strutt Hurley, from the early years of the organization.

Hurley was the Director of Entertainment of SNAPI in 1996 and 1997 and her collection features documents that demonstrate how the parades and Pride events were constructed. Among the documents…Read More