LibGuides: History: Las Vegas

New!

Now available online - follow links from the collection guide to individual records.

Las Vegas City Commission records
The Las Vegas City Commission Records (1911-1960) is comprised of materials from the original Las Vegas City Commission. Includes minutes that served as the official record of the proceedings of all Las Vegas City Commission meetings from 1911-1960. There are also three volumes of City of Las Vegas ordinances dating from 1911 to 1958, one volume of legal documents from 1944-1945 and two large volumes containing an alphabetical subject index to the topics covered in the minutes. Other materials cover the period 1921 to 1946 and include minutes, resolutions, ordinances, correspondence, financial records, proclamations and other documents related to city business.

Historic Preservation

Nevada State Historic Preservation Office reports
Reports, multiple property documentation forms, and other research resources created for the Historic Preservation Office, including a 150 page report on World War II Era residential housing.

History Museums in Southern Nevada

Boulder City / Hoover Dam Museum
Cahlan Research Library - Manuscript Collections
List of manuscript collections available at Nevada State Museum, Cahlan Research Library.
Cahlan Research Library - Nevada State Museum
Clark County Museum
Howard W. Cannon Aviation Museum
Las Vegas Natural History Museum
The Mob Museum
National Atomic Testing Museum
Neon Museum
Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas
Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas Online Collections
Online collections include Helen Stewart papers, Benny Binion papers, Volunteer Fire Department archives, and thousands of photos.
Nevada State Railroad Museum, Boulder City
Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort
Springs Preserve

Blogs

Classic Las Vegas

Oral Histories

Documenting the African American Experience in Las Vegas
KNPR: The Las Vegas I Remember
Oral histories
Nevada Test Site Oral History Project
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The Nevada Test Site Oral History Project at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas is a comprehensive program dedicated to documenting, preserving and disseminating the remembered past of persons affiliated with and affected by the Nevada Test Site during the era of Cold War nuclear testing.
Southern Nevada Jewish Heritage Project
UNR: University of Nevada Oral History Archive
Veterans Oral History Project
West Las Vegas Teen Oral History Project « The Librarian's Brain
WLV Teen Oral Histories
Margaret Wheat oral history collection, UNR
Oral histories from Paiute and Shoshone people in Nevada

Microform Research Collections

Current Las Vegas media

Las Vegas newspapers - current issues
Links to view today's newspaper articles via library subscriptions and your ACE account.
Las Vegas Review Journal
Today's paper and current week's archives
Las Vegas Sun
Las Vegas Weekly
Vegas INC
Las Vegas Business Press
Las Vegas Black Image
KNPR State of Nevada archives
Streaming media of interviews with Las Vegas newsmakers and experts
KLAS 8 News Now
Las Vegas CBS affiliate
KSNV My News 3
Las Vegas NBC affiliate
KVVU Fox 5 Vegas
KVVU Fox affiliate
Las Vegas Tribune

High school yearbooks

Las Vegas high school yearbooks

Las Vegas history overviews

Las Vegas history timeline
Las Vegas Sun timeline outlines events in the Valley from the 19th C to present.
A Gamble in the Sand: History of Las Vegas (Las Vegas Sun)
Las Vegas Sun website includes interactive casino history map, historic timeline, and Voices of Vegas sound clips from prominent Nevadans.

Resort City in the Sunbelt by Eugene P. Moehring
Call Number: F849.L35 M643 2000, UNLV Book Stacks and Special Collections
ISBN: 0874173566
Publication Date: 2000

"Las Vegas History: A Research Agenda"
2004 Nevada Historical Society Quarterly article by Eugene Moehring with a good overview of research done (and needed) on Las Vegas.
Early Las Vegas
Overview with links to UNLV digital collections.
Online Nevada Encyclopedia
Essays and exhibits about Nevada history.

Las Vegas Newspapers

Las Vegas Age

Las Vegas Age & Las Vegas Times
1905-1947

Las Vegas Age
1905-1915, 1917-1922, 1924.
The Las Vegas Age newspaper, published between 1905 and 1924.

Complete digital images of the Las Vegas Age newspaper digitized from the print copies from the Special Collections of the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District. Search by date or by keyword or browse page images.

Las Vegas Sun

Las Vegas Sun (Access Nevada)
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1996-current. Includes scattered issues from 1973-1995 and a single issue from 1957.
Las Vegas Sun (website)
1995-current

Las Vegas Review Journal

Las Vegas Review Journal Archive (1929-1996)
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3/30/1929-present
Nevada daily newspaper. 1929-1996 is page images only; 1997- is article text only, no images.

Las Vegas Review Journal (ProQuest)
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Dec 2, 1990 - Dec 29, 2012

Las Vegas Review Journal (NewsBank)
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1996-
Full text of articles, not including images. Use microfilm to get photos or advertisements.

Las Vegas Review Journal (PressReader)
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Complete page images for the most recent 60 days
Las Vegas Review Journal, current

UNLV Student Newspaper

The Rebel Yell (UNLV Digital Collections)
1955-2010
Rebel Yell (Access Nevada)
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2010-2017
UNLV Scarlet and Gray Free Press
2017-
UNLV student newspaper, renamed in 2017

Online Access to Las Vegas Newspapers - summary by date

9/29/1996 - present. Full-text articles (no images) for the Las Vegas Review Journal in Access Nevada.
3/30/1929 - 12/31/1996. Searchable page images for the Las Vegas Review Journal, 3/30/1929 -12/31/1996 in Access Nevada.
12/2/1990 - 12/31/2012. Full-text articles for the Las Vegas Review Journal in ProQuest US Newsstream.
2/19/1996 - present. Full-text articles for the Las Vegas Sun, 2/19/96 -current in Access Nevada. Also includes scattered issues from 1973-1995 and a single issue from 1957.
1995 - present. Full-text articles for the Las Vegas Sun.
1962 - 1977 Full-text articles for the Las Vegas Sun are available online via Las Vegas-Clark County Library's subscription to NewspaperArchive.com - you must have an LVCCLD card or visit a branch for online access.
1905-1947. Page images for the Las Vegas Age.
1905-1905. Page images for the Las Vegas Times.

Indexing for Las Vegas Newspapers

1983 - 1990 Citations only microfiche index to Las Vegas Review Journal and Las Vegas Sun available at UNLV Lied Library.
1972 - 1982 Citations only to Las Vegas Review Journal and Las Vegas Sun available in NNI Nevada Newspaper Index on UNLV Lied Library microfilm scanning computers. Instructions on how to use.
1930 - 8/1968. Las Vegas Review Journal index (citations only) available on index cards at the Cahlan Research Library inside the Nevada Historical Society and Museum, which is located in Springs Preserve. Contact them or call ahead at 702-486-5205 to make an appointment to use the index.
1905 - 1940. Las Vegas Age index (citations only) available on index cards, also at the Cahlan Research Library.

Las Vegas newspapers on microfilm at UNLV
List of microfilmed newspapers with date ranges.
Las Vegas newspapers - current issues
Links to view today's newspaper articles via library subscriptions and your ACE account.

Nevada Historical Society Quarterly

Nevada Historical Society Quarterly
PDF of each volume, 1957-2009.

NHSQ Index, 1994-2008

Index to the publications of the Nevada Historical Society
Print index
Nevada Historical Society Quarterly print holdings at UNLV
Print issues of NHSQ, including 2010-current.

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Each volume is indexed in a print indexed published in the next volume. For example, to check the index for the four issues of volume 43 published in 2000, check the contents of vol 44 (2001) for the cumulative index of the previous year.)
Nevada Historical Society Quarterly (EBSCO)
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Indexed with abstracts in America: History and Life, full text not included.

Maps and photos available online

Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas Online Collections
Online collections include Helen Stewart papers, Benny Binion papers, Volunteer Fire Department archives, and thousands of photos.
Historical Nevada Collections from NSLA
Historic Landscape of Nevada
Nevada in Maps (UNR)
Southern Nevada and Las Vegas History in Maps
UNLV Special Collections and Archives Photo Collections
UNR Special Collections Photographs
Nevada Sanborn Maps (UNR)
Includes 1923 Las Vegas maps
Las Vegas and Water in the West
Southern Nevada: The Boomtown Years
Nevada State Museum, Carson City Online Collections
Images of objects from Navajo, Hopi, and Ancestral Pueblo cultures.
Virgin Valley Heritage Museum, Mesquite Online Collections
The mission of the Virgin Valley Heritage Museum is to deepen the understanding of the community and visitors about the Virgin Valley specifically Mesquite, Bunkerville and Southern Nevada. We strive to bring history to life through collections, exhibits, special events and educational opportunities.

State and Local Documents

Records and reports published by the state and by certain Clark County or City of Las Vegas agencies can be found on the second floor near the tutoring area. Use the library Quick Search and try an organization name, for example: Clark County Dept. of Aviation, Clark County School District.

Appendix to the Journals of the Assembly and Senate by Nevada Legislature
Call Number: Gov't documents (next to Tutoring) 29-A5A/4
Publication Date: 1939-1949 available in print only
The appendix compiles all the biennial reports made by various state agencies and officials to the Nevada legislature. These are substantial primary sources that have both narratives and data about everything that was regulated in any way by the state: education, embalming, insurance, mining, the sheep commission, the university system and more.

Las Vegas demographics and economy

Las Vegas Perspective
Print publication available from 1984-2019 with demographic, real estate, community and tourism data about the Las Vegas valley.

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Current issue at Research and Information desk; older issues in book stacks and Special Collections.

MyResearcher.com
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First time users must register with their UNLV email address.
Create tables of Las Vegas economic indicators using data from Applied Analysis.

MyResearcher allows users to search millions of economic, fiscal, social and environmental metrics, tracking and trending the ones that matter most to them. MyResearcher has Las Vegas and Clark County area statistics as well as detailed gaming statistics from across the United States.

Nevada Census Database
Find Nevada residents recorded in the U.S. Census for the years 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, and 1920.

Government Information
by Susie Skarl, Urban Affairs Librarian Last Updated Sep 1, 2020 604 views this year

1940 census - National Archives
Manuscript census images record name, age, relationship, and occupation, the 1940 census included questions about internal migration; employment status; participation in the New Deal Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), Works Progress Administration (WPA), and National Youth Administration (NYA) programs; and years of education.
Manuscript censuses available at UNLV
Search the keyword "census" to see the list of microfilmed manuscript census rolls.
Manuscript census records available online
Summary of online availability of manuscript census records by year from NARA. Some sites require subscriptions.

Dissertations & bibliographies

Dissertations and Theses: UNLV
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Full text of most UNLV dissertations produced after 1997; citations and abstracts for others.

Women in Nevada History
A comprehensive bibliography of sources on women in Nevada.

Organized Crime

FBI Files on organized crime figures
Online records from FBI FOIA vault

History