Skip to main content

Search the Special Collections and Archives Portal

UNLV History 117: Nevada History Photograph Collection (PH-00054)

Abstract

The UNLV History 117: Nevada History Photograph Collection contains photographic prints, negatives, and slides of Las Vegas and Boulder City, Nevada between approximately 1900 and 1959. These images were collected by students for University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) professor Ralph Roske’s class, History 117: Nevada History. The images primarily depict Las Vegas in the 1950s with people posing in front of and inside the El Rancho Vegas and the Last Frontier Village, including Eleanor Roosevelt, Joe E. Lewis, and Paul Newman. Earlier photographs from the 1920s include businesses, such as fireproofing stores, and significant individuals such as Ed W. Clark. Lastly, it contains two photographs of the Boulder City Airport.

Finding Aid PDF

Date

1930 to 1950

Extent

0.02 Cubic Feet (1 hanging folder, 1 shared box of negatives, and 1 shared binder of slides)
0.20 Linear Feet

Related People/Corporations

Scope and Contents Note

The UNLV History 117: Nevada History Photograph Collection contains photographic prints, negatives, and slides of Las Vegas and Boulder City, Nevada between approximately 1900 and 1959. These images were collected by students for University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) professor Ralph Roske’s class, History 117: Nevada History. The images primarily depict Las Vegas in the 1950s with people posing in front of and inside the El Rancho Vegas and the Last Frontier Village, including Eleanor Roosevelt, Joe E. Lewis, and Paul Newman. Earlier photographs from the 1920s include businesses, such as fireproofing stores, and significant individuals such as Ed W. Clark. Lastly, it contains two photographs of the Boulder City Airport.

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

Ralph J. Roske was a professor of history at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) for over twenty years. He researched Las Vegas history extensively and authored Las Vegas: A Desert Paradise (1986). He was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1921 and earned his undergraduate degree at DePaul University. After serving in World War II, Roske went on to earn his doctorate in history from the University of Illinois. He taught at St. Mary's College and Humboldt State College (now Humboldt State University) in California before coming to UNLV in 1967. While at UNLV he served as dean of the College of Social Science and was a popular professor and speaker. He created an oral history program with his Nevada history students, who interviewed many early Las Vegas residents. Roske retired from UNLV in 1990. He died in 1994.

Sources:

Green, Michael S. "History News: UNLV Professor Ralph J. Roske Retires." Nevada Historical Society Quarterly 33, no 1 (Spring 1990):41-44.

"UNLV Professor, Author Roske Dies." Las Vegas Sun, December 16, 1994, 2B.

Related Collections

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

Ralph Roske Interviews. Oral History Research Center, Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.

Ralph Roske Papers, 1957-1989. MS-00313. Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.

Ralph Roske Photographs, 1917-1969. PH-00253. Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.

Historic Building Survey Collection, 1930-2001. MS-00762. Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.

Thalia Dondero Political Papers, 1934-2003. MS-00345. Special Collections, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.

Company Mobility Histories Papers, 1972-1977. MS-00763. Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.

Preferred Citation

UNLV History 117: Nevada History Photograph Collection, approximately 1900-1959. PH-00054. Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.

Acquisition Note

Materials were donated in 1984 by Ralph J. Roske; accession number 84-31.

Processing Note

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

Resource Type

Collection

Collection Type

EAD ID

US::NVLN::PH00054

Finding Aid Description Rules

Describing Archives: A Content Standard
English