Building Las Vegas - Understanding and Preserving Las Vegas's Unique Heritage

FAIN: PY-263760-19

Southern Nevada Public Television (Las Vegas, NV 89121-4427)
Niki Bates (Project Director: May 2018 to October 2022)

Two digitization events to collect Las Vegas residents’ photographs and memories from the 1960s to the 1990s, a period in which the city experienced a nearly 300 percent increase in population.  The project would be managed by Vegas PBS in collaboration with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) Libraries’ Special Collections and Archives unit and the Las Vegas Valley Water District’s Springs Preserve, a 180-acre cultural institution featuring museums, galleries, and a botanical garden.  One event, hosted during a popular “community free day” at Springs Preserve, would solicit original photographs, slides, and negatives from the public, as well as offer presentations by a UNLV Libraries curator and a local historian.  With donor permission, the personal photographs would be made available through the UNLV Libraries’ digital portal and would complement their existing holdings from architects and developers on the city’s growth.

Las Vegas stands as a prominent national example of an expansive and expanding planned community void of any common heritage. Vegas PBS, UNLV University Libraries, and the Las Vegas Valley Water District will collaborate on Building Las Vegas. This project will engage community members in collections/digitization events, public programs, and public access collections. In addition to digital collections, this collaboration will also capture video stories and continue public access beyond the events via physical exhibits, digital collection portals, and public service media platforms. The intent of this project is to provide community members with greater context and a better understanding of how Las Vegas’s unique history, environment, and growth helps to shape our own equally unique social and cultural identity. The project timeline is from January 2019 to April 2020.

Media Coverage

Calling for photos that show Las Vegas in the 1960s through 1990s (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Caroline Bleakley
Publication: https://www.8newsnow.com/
Date: 2/26/2020
Abstract: If you have older photographs of Las Vegas, you could be of help to a project aimed at documenting the city’s changes from the 1960s through the 1990s.
URL: https://www.8newsnow.com/news/local-news/calling-for-photos-that-show-las-vegas-in-the-1960s-through-1990s/

FOX5 LIVE promotional coverage (Media Coverage)
Author(s): KVVU
Publication: KVVU-TV
Date: 3/5/2020
Abstract: Promotional segment from KVVU-TV (FOX5) for the community event (digital photograph collection) on 03/07/2020.
URL: https://eduvision.tv/l?yAAmAg

Associated Products

2020 Snapshots of History at Springs Preserve (Film/TV/Video Broadcast or Recording)
Title: 2020 Snapshots of History at Springs Preserve
Writer: Sondra Wachtel
Director: Kareem Hatcher
Producer: Adam McCarthy
Abstract: Promotion of the community-wide event on March 7, 2020 asking residents of the Las Vegas valley to locate and bring their photos of the region from the 1960's - 1990's to Springs Preserve for digital scanning of their photos. Photos may be selected for the UNLV, Libraries, Archives, Special Collections.
Year: 2020
Primary URL: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ia9wCf7DcP2O4jEIll3SJMoik7Ikhwfe/view?usp=sharing
Access Model: open
Format: Digital File

Las Vegas: Snapshots of History: 1960's to 1990's (Blog Post)
Title: Las Vegas: Snapshots of History: 1960's to 1990's
Author: Vegas PBS
Abstract: The event managed by Vegas PBS will document four decades of immense change and growth in Las Vegas in partnership with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and Springs Preserve. The event is funded by a grant from the National Endowment For The Humanities.
Date: 02/26/2020
Primary URL: https://www.vegaspbs.org/blogs/newsroom-2020/newsroom-las-vegas-snapshots-of-history-calls-for-photos-of-60s90s-las-vegas-for-archiving/
Primary URL Description: Newsroom Vegas PBS
Blog Title: NEWSROOM | LAS VEGAS: SNAPSHOTS OF HISTORY CALLS FOR PHOTOS OF 60s-90s LAS VEGAS FOR ARCHIVING
Website: www.vegaspbs.org

UNLV project looks for gold in family photos (Article)
Title: UNLV project looks for gold in family photos
Author: John Przybys
Abstract: Sometimes the best chroniclers of history are just regular people armed with a Brownie — or a Polaroid, an Instamatic, a 35mm point-and-shoot, or, these days, a digital camera or cellphone — taking family photos.
Year: 2020
Primary URL: https://www.reviewjournal.com/local/local-las-vegas/unlv-project-looks-for-gold-in-family-photos-1970508/
Primary URL Description: Las Vegas Review-Journal, local news
Access Model: Subscription
Format: Journal
Format: Other
Publisher: Las Vegas Review-Journal

Calling for photos that show Las Vegas in the 1960s through 1990s (Web Resource)
Title: Calling for photos that show Las Vegas in the 1960s through 1990s
Author: Caroline Bleakley
Abstract: If you have older photographs of Las Vegas, you could be of help to a project aimed at documenting the city’s changes from the 1960s through the 1990s.
Year: 2020
Primary URL: https://www.8newsnow.com/news/local-news/calling-for-photos-that-show-las-vegas-in-the-1960s-through-1990s/
Primary URL Description: TV Channel 8 (CBS), Las Vegas, NV

Snapshots of History (Database/Archive/Digital Edition)
Title: Snapshots of History
Author: UNLV Digital Collections
Abstract: Images of the Las Vegas area 1960s-1990s, four decades of immense change and growth in Las Vegas.
Year: 2020
Primary URL: http://d.library.unlv.edu/digital/collection/p17304coll4/search/searchterm/Las Vegas%3A Snapshots of History Photograph Collection (PH-00425)/field/source/mode/exact/conn/and
Primary URL Description: The University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Libraries, Digital Collections, and Archives.
Access Model: Open

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