Skip to main content

Search the Special Collections and Archives Portal

Frank F. Watts Photograph Collection (PH-00169)

Abstract

The Frank F. Watts Photograph Collection (approximately 1940-1959) contains black-and-white photographic prints, negatives, and slides. The photographs were taken in and around the El Rancho Vegas Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada and include publicity photographs, celebrity images, wedding photographs, and images of the hotel interior and exterior. Also included are images of the El Rancho's executives with national figures, including Eleanor Roosevelt and Walter Winchell. A few additional images depict the Hoover Dam (Boulder Dam) and Lake Mead.

Finding Aid PDF

Date

1940 to 1959

Extent

0.26 Cubic Feet (2 hanging folders, 1 flat file, 1 shared box of negatives, and 1 shared binder of slides)
4.30 Linear Feet

Related People/Corporations

Scope and Contents Note

The Frank F. Watts Photograph Collection (approximately 1940-1959) contains black-and-white photographic prints, negatives, and slides. The photographs were taken in and around the El Rancho Vegas Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada and include publicity photographs, celebrity images, wedding photographs, and images of the hotel interior and exterior. Also included are images of the El Rancho's executives with national figures, including Eleanor Roosevelt and Walter Winchell. A few additional images depict the Hoover Dam (Boulder Dam) and Lake Mead.

Access Note

Collection is open for research.

Publication Rights

Materials in this collection may be protected by copyrights and other rights. See Reproductions and Use on the UNLV Special Collections and Archives website for more information about reproductions and permissions to publish.

Arrangement

Materials remain as they were received.

Biographical / Historical Note

Frank Frederick Watts (1911-2004) was born in Columbus, Ohio and attended Ohio State University before graduating from Franklin University in Columbus. He came to Las Vegas in 1950 with his wife, Jane. He spent his career as a hotel controller, working at the El Rancho until it closed in 1960 and then at the Riviera. Watts, along with the Nevada Resort Association, helped found the hotel college at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) in 1966. Watts died on on December 10, 2004.

Source:

"Frank Watts," Las Vegas Review-Journal, December 10, 2004.

Related Collections

The following resources may provide additional information related to the materials in this collection:

James Reece Photographs of the El Rancho Vegas, approximately 1950-1962. PH-00048. Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.

El Rancho Vegas Collection, 1953-1961. MS-00194. Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.

Frank F. Watts Collection of Casino Memorabilia, 1880-1990. MS-00255. Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.

Frank Watts oral history interview, 1981 April 01. OH-01928. Oral History Research Center, Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.

Preferred Citation

Frank F. Watts Photograph Collection, approximately 1940-1959. PH-00169. Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.

Acquisition Note

Materials were donated by Frank Watts in 1978; accession number 1978-100.

Processing Note

In 2020, as part of an archival backlog elimination project, Melise Leech wrote the finding aid and entered the data into ArchivesSpace.

Resource Type

Collection

Collection Type

EAD ID

US::NvLN::PH00169

Finding Aid Description Rules

Describing Archives: A Content Standard
English