Aaron Williams Collection, MS 87-36. Special Collections, UNLV Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Donated by Aaron Williams, 1987
Carol Corbett, October 5, 1995.
This collection is open for research.
For permission to reproduce or publish from this collection, please contact the Director of Special Collections.
Aaron Williams was the first black person elected to a local municipal position in the history of Nevada when he became North Las Vegas City Councilman in 1968. Williams served on the council until he was elected to the Clark County Commission in 1971.
Williams was educated in Texas and served in the South Pacific with the United States Army during World War II. Upon leaving the service, he worked in the steel industry in Detroit, rising to the position of assistant superintendent. He resigned to open his own supermarket and, after five years, relocated to Las Vegas. He was initially employed as a porter and then as an orderly at Southern Nevada Memorial Hospital (now University Medical Center).
He began working for Reynolds Electrical and Engineering Company (REECo) as a clerk, advancing to senior clerk, clerk supervisor, material control agent, buyer, and senior buyer.
Williams' community interests included National Association for Advancement of Colored People, Nevada Lung Association, Optimist Club, National Black Caucus, and the Clark County Democratic Central Committee.
Most of the materials in this collection document the career of Aaron Williams, who donated the collection in 1987. His collection is included in the Nevada Women's Archives because he dealt with political and social issues that impact women. Also, many of the clippings and some of the correspondence contain references that give insight into the role of women in North Las Vegas and Clark County during the late 1960's and early 1970's.
The majority of the material consists of scrapbooks and loose newspaper clippings, which had been organized in folders by year.
The scrapbooks and newspaper clippings document Williams career as well as issues he dealt with as councilman and commissioner. These issues include those related to community and infrastructure development, such as airports, sewage treatment plants, senior citizens, health, and urban planning as well as North Las Vegas and Clark county political activities during the late 1960's and early 1970's.
The remainder of the materials in the collection consists primarily of correspondence from 1966-1976, various certificates, and a very limited number of reports and programs pertaining to affirmative action and the organization "Poor People Pulling Together."
Items in scrapbooks consisted of loose clippings, programs, cards, and memorabilia that had been completely taped down; items that were partially taped and easy to remove; and items that had been stored between the pages in groups. The items that were completely taped down were left intact and the pages photocopied. The items that were easily removed were removed and kept together. The groups of items stored between the pages were kept together as found. All the materials from each scrapbook was placed in an envelope, identified as to originating scrapbook.
Loose newspaper clippings had been organized in folders by year, presumably by library staff when the collection was acquired. The clippings have been transferred from folders into envelopes. Other than keeping the years separate, there was no attempt to organize the clippings by date or subject. Also, there was no attempt to remove multiple copies of the same article.
A photo album documenting Williams 1969 election to the North Las Vegas City Council was also part of the collection. The album was photocopied intact, including 16 color photos, clippings, and other memorabilia. The color photos were then removed and stored separately in an envelope (box 1, folder 4) as part of this collection.
A notebook containing cards, letters, and telegrams of congratulations on Williams election to the County Commission was also part of the collection. These materials were removed from the notebook and are housed in a folder together (box 1, folder 10).
The overall collection is organized by year, following the pattern used by Williams in organizing his scrapbooks.
One publication, "City of North Las Vegas Celebrates It's 25th Silver Anniversary" [1971], was removed and transferred to Government Publications, UNLV Library. The page highlighting Councilman Williams was photocopied and is in the Miscellaneous folder (box 1, folder 8).
A black and white photograph of members of the County Commission, including Williams [1972] was removed to photograph collection 0234 in UNLV Special Collections. This photograph collection already existed, having been started with three photographs that were removed from the Williams collection at the time of accession.