In The News: University Libraries
51ԹϺ'S Oral History Research Center is embarking on a project tracking the history of sports in Las Vegas. "It's kind of hard not to think about sports when you think about Las Vegas right now," said Oral History Research Center Project Manager Stefani Evans.
The building that housed the Holy Cow Casino and Brewery, on the northeast corner of Sahara and the Strip, made Las Vegas history for a couple of big reasons.
Kennedy Jackson, a 51ԹϺ theater arts major, still remembers the hummingbird she saw fluttering outside of 51ԹϺ’s Beam Hall one year ago. She was walking back from studying for finals, and the campus was abuzz with pre-finals stress and pre-holiday anticipation. But in just a few short hours, the excitement and jitters would turn into utter fear.
As Sara told 51ԹϺ oral historian Claytee White, “From the day Roosevelt was elected we had a picture of him in our house. And I still have it in my house.”
The anticipation surrounding the 2024 General Election continues to grow and so has the hype behind obtaining some exclusive ‘I voted’ stickers.
Drawn within a Nevada-shaped border are three animals – a bird carrying a tote bag, a bear in a skirt and a cat wearing a white backpack. They are all lined up in front of a “vote here” sign.
Crystal chandeliers that once glimmered above a swanky lounge, bright blue costume feathers that cloaked shimmying showgirls, and fake palm trees that evoked a desert oasis are just some the artifacts making their way from the latest latest casino graveyards of Las Vegas into Sin City history.
Bally’s Corporation, the operator of the to-be-imploded Tropicana Las Vegas, has agreed to donate a variety of memorabilia to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The casino company was contacted by the university’s Special Collections and Archives department, which wanted to preserve a part of the historic resort.
After it’s imploded on Wednesday morning, the best way to relive memories of the Tropicana Las Vegas will be to head two miles east of the vacant lot to 51ԹϺ. Nevada’s largest university recently received five boxes of history from the Rat Pack-era casino resort, most of which it has processed and made available for public perusal — both in person and online.
The iconic Tropicana Hotel, a fixture on the Las Vegas Strip for 67 years, is set to be demolished next Wednesday. The historic property, which closed its doors in April, will make way for a new Major League Baseball stadium.
For 67 years, the Tropicana was a staple on the Las Vegas Strip. It first opened on April 4th, 1957. 51ԹϺ history professor Micheal Green said the casino was the most advanced when it was built, now symbolized as part of the old Las Vegas.
In 1960, Dr. James B. McMillan served as president of the local Las Vegas NAACP, Branch 1111. In March of that year, he received a letter from the organization’s national office in New York — encouraging branches nationwide to elevate activities that would lead to integration of public accommodations. McMillan, using that same mode of communication, sent a letter to Las Vegas Mayor Oran Gragson — demanding integration of the Strip and Downtown in two weeks. McMillan clearly stated that if integration did not occur, the Black community would march down the Strip on the Saturday evening of March 26, 1960.