Showgirls
This collection features a visual history of Las Vegas entertainment and focuses specifically on the iconic Las Vegas showgirl. Included are over 200 scanned digital images of original costume design sketches, photographic prints, and illustrations.
Before Gaming . . . Celebrating Las Vegas' Centennial, 1905-2005
Before Gaming. Before Hotels. Before the tourists came. Where Indians, explorers, settlers, and ranchers wandered, set down, picked up, and mostly moved on. Until the San Pedro, Salt Lake and Los Angeles Railroad stopped for water. Then Las Vegas was a small railroad depot-with-a-town in the desert.
Las Vegas and Water in the West
The planning and construction of Hoover Dam is the central and defining phenomenon of the history presented by this digital project. UNLV Special Collections houses the largest collection of material relating to Hoover Dam, including film footage, maps, government publications relating to the planning and construction of the dam, and well over a thousand photographs.
“Welcome Home Howard, or Whatever Became of the Daring Aviator?”
A new exhibit drawing from the Howard Hughes collections housed in UNLV Libraries Special Collections. The exhibit focuses on Hughes the Aviator, popularized in the current Hollywood film by Martin Scorsese. The exhibit also draws on unique unpublished documentation and interviews with Hughes from the files of Dick Hannah, Hughes's public relations director.
Southern Nevada and Las Vegas: History in Maps
A digital project featuring over 80 historical maps from the UNLV Libraries Special Collections Department, documenting the cartographic history and context of Southern Nevada, telescoping in scale from the Western Hemisphere to the streets of Las Vegas.
One Millionth Volume
In April 2004 the UNLV Libraries reached a landmark in its history, its one millionth volume. To celebrate and mark this event a volume was specially purchased, chosen for its significance as a book, as an artifact of the culture of printing, and for its relevance to our library, our university, and our intellectual and cultural community in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Dino at the Sands
In the early 1960s, the Rat Pack made Las Vegas--and the Sands Casino--an all-day party. This exhibit features photos of Dean Martin and the Rat Pack in action.
Early Las Vegas - The Cottages, The Depot, Fremont Street, Nightclub Las Vegas, and Hoover Dam
Hoover Dam
Built from 1931-1935, the dam put Las Vegas on the map.
Gaming Art Gallery
This exhibit contains digital images of some of the gaming-related artwork on file in UNLV Special Collections.
Photograph Archive
Every week, visitors to the Gaming Studies Research site can view a new weekly photo. These pages archive these photos.
Paradise Misplaced: The Xanadu Hotel-Casino
Planned in 1975 but never built, this Martin Stern casino is an interesting study in resort design.
Hotel El Rancho Vegas: The Strip's First Resort
The Las Vegas Strip began in 1941 with this modest resort. This exhibit has the most complete assembly of information about the path-breaking casino available anywhere.
World Series of Poker: A Retrospective
This exhibit has materials from the Binion's Horseshoe collection and documents some of the history of the world's longest-running poker tournament.
Neon Survey: Las Vegas Strip, Sunset to Sahara
In the summer of 2002, the Neon Museum and UNLV Special Collections documented the current neon landscape of the Las Vegas Strip. This exhibit has photographs and narrative descriptions of the famous and obscure signs of the Strip.
Nevada Women's Archives
These collections document the lives and careers of significant Southern Nevada women.
Jeanne Russell Janish, Botanical Illustrator
During her lifetime, Janish produced some 11,500 illustrations for 32 major books and many shorter works in biology, geology, and botany. This exhibit contains artwork painted and sketched during her travels, 1930-1953.