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Collection on the Las Vegas, Nevada Jewish Community (MS-00426)

Abstract

The Collection on the Las Vegas, Nevada Jewish Community spans from 1964 to 2006 and is comprised of scrapbooks, genealogies, ephemera, and other material produced by or for the community. The Hadassah scrapbooks date from 1964 through 1971 and contain invitations, photographs, and records of events and fundraising efforts. Material related to various congregations includes bulletins, fliers, correspondence (form letters), photographs, newspaper clippings, and recorded media. The Jewish Genealogy Society records include bulletins, newsletters, and meeting agendas. Also included is a family genealogy.

Finding Aid PDF

Date

1964-2006

Extent

6.85 Linear Feet (11 boxes)

Related People/Corporations

Scope and Contents Note

The Collection on the Las Vegas, Nevada Jewish Community is comprised of records of Las Vegas, Nevada Jewish organizations from 1964 to 2006. The organizations documented by the collection include local congregations, the Jewish Genealogical Society of Southern Nevada, the Las Vegas/Southern Nevada chapter of Hadassah, and the Holocaust Survivors Group of Southern Nevada. Newsletters from various Las Vegas Jewish organizations from 1998 to 2006 make up a large part of the collection. The Las Vegas/Southern Nevada chapter of Hadassah is also well-documented by scrapbooks from the 1960s and 1970s, as well as meeting minutes, budgets, and bylaws from 1993 to 1997. The collection also contains genealogical research materials, including name indexes of the newsletters and scrapbooks in the collection. It also contains genealogical information assembled by Mary Barkan, including family histories related to Barry Barkan and her husband.

Access Note

Collection is open for research. Some collection material has been digitized and is available online.

Publication Rights

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

Arrangement

These records are organized into three series:

Series I. Las Vegas Jewish community records, 1988-2004;

Series II. Genealogical materials, 1998-2006;

Series III. Hadassah records and scrapbooks, 1964-2001.

Biographical / Historical Note

Genealogist and former teacher Mary Flynn Barkan (1949- ) is an active member of the Jewish Genealogy Society of Southern Nevada (JGSSN) and a past president of the Friends of Southern Nevada Libraries. She moved to Las Vegas, Nevada with her husband Barry Barkan in 1977. She taught at Cashman Junior High School before leaving the Clark County School District in 1981 to work at her husband’s company DeBarry Packaging. Mary Barkan became a member of the Friends of Southern Nevada Libraries in the early 1980s and joined the Board of Directors in 1983. She also served as president of the organization and managed the warehouse of books that the Friends sold to raise money for library projects. As a member of JGSSN, Barkan conducts genealogical research and teaches others how to document their family histories. For nine years she was editor of JGSSN’s quarterly bulletin Family Legacies. She was honored by the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS) in February 2007 for her dedication to preserving historical records.

Barkan was born in Quantico, Virginia on March 3, 1949. She was raised in Yuma, Arizona and graduated from Yuma High School in 1967. Barkan earned her degree in Secondary Education from the University of Arizona and taught English at her former high school, during which time she met her future husband Barry Barkan. The couple lived in Tucson, Arizona while Barry completed his doctorate and Mary finished her masters. They were married in Yuma on January 29, 1977 and moved to Las Vegas in the summer of 1977.

Preferred Citation

Collection on the Las Vegas, Nevada Jewish Community, 1964-2006. MS-00426. Special Collections, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.

Acquisition Note

Multiple individuals contributed to this collection before its donation to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Mary Flynn Barkan was the lead volunteer in compiling the materials that were donated as accession number 2001-06. Related materials from various persons were added to the collection from 2001 to 2007.

Processing Note

Material was processed by Joyce Moore in 2013-2014. In 2014 Joyce Moore revised and enhanced the collection description to bring it into compliance with current professional standards and entered the data into ArchivesSpace. In 2015 further processing work was performed on the collection and the finding aid was revised by Emily Lapworth as part of the Southern Nevada Jewish Heritage Project.

Resource Type

Collection

Collection Type

EAD ID

US::NvLN::MS00426

Additions

Further additions are anticipated.

Finding Aid Description Rules

Describing Archives: A Content Standard
English