Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Donation seen as cultural coup for UNLV collection

Many people -- those who wore parachute pants perhaps -- may want to forget the 1980s.

But UNLV, thanks to a private donation from Robin Leach, will be preserving the decade with 475 video tapes of the television journalist's syndicated series "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous."

The recent acquisition by the Special Collections library sent tongues flapping nationwide last month as magazines such as Newsweek questioned the "academic" nature of the tapes. But both Leach and UNLV officials defended the validity of preserving the tapes as artifacts of popular culture and the entertainment industry.

The tapes, they said, fit in perfectly with UNLV's already massive collection on the history and culture of Las Vegas. The Special Collection department touts everything from rare books and corporate archives on the history of gaming to photographs of the Rat Pack when Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin ruled the Sands Hotel.

Leach, in fact, called his donation a "little acorn contribution to a mighty oak tree."

"It is a fascinating department," said Leach, who owns a home in Las Vegas and is working on launching a Vegas-themed cable channel. "I think it has one of the most unusual collections of entertainment history ever collected.

"... If you take a segment, a slice of American history, and you look at it in the narrow focus of entertainment through history, that's a pretty interesting collection."

The tapes also have an immediate academic use for UNLV journalism students, said Leach, who has been a guest lecturer at UNLV and hopes students will use his footage to study television production and interviewing techniques.

For his part, UNLV Special Collections director Peter Michel said he can understand the raised eyebrows surrounding the Leach acquisition. At the same time, however, he said it's tough to judge what might be important 20 to 50 years down the road.

"Something that might seem ephemeral at the time might help people (in the future) understand who we are and what we do," Michel said.

For instance, there's no scholarly doubt, Michel said, that 19th and 18th century works on the lives of the rich and famous would be something worth collecting for those studying that time period.

"It's intellectually respectable to have popular culture from 100 years ago, but people have trouble understanding collecting popular culture today," Michel said.

The majority of UNLV's collections -- which include books, corporate archives, personal manuscripts, architectural drawings, maps and photographs -- capture some aspect of Southern Nevada's history and culture, Michel said.

The library draws people from all over the world and the state who are interested in the gaming industry and Las Vegas, particularly film and documentary makers who need access to historical photos, Michel said.

"Las Vegas is a compelling phenomenon in American and urban culture," Michel said. "I think its something that fascinates people now and I think it will fascinate people in the future."

UNLV's collections, including the acceptance of the Robin Leach tapes, make perfect sense, other special collections directors said.

"Each place has to figure out what its niche is and I think UNLV has done an excellent job of that," said Victoria Steele, director of the special collections department at the Young Research Library at the University of California, Los Angeles.

"Things that might not be particularly mainstream for us (in California), like the casinos and the Rat Pack, ... are very appropriate for UNLV," Steele continued. "And what might seem like a particular item that is at the margins for some people at a particular time could end up being a very valuable item or artifact in the future. 'Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous' says a lot about our particular culture at a particular time."

UNLV's focus on the history of Las Vegas and gaming is an ideal area of study for the university, said Nicolette Bromberg, visual materials curator at the University of Washington Libraries' special collections department. Most university collections "relate to what is interesting or important in your particular area."

Bromberg said the Leach tapes, and anything to do with entertainment and culture, is a great collection for UNLV considering the city's emphasis on entertainment.

UNLV has an extensive collection of Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. and other Rat Pack photos from the Sands Hotel. With more than 70,000 photographs, the library's collection on the history of Las Vegas is second only to the Las Vegas News Bureau, Michel said. The department raised more than $17,000 for new acquisitions out of the fees it charges to reproduce the photographs.

The library's gaming collection includes everything having to do with the industry, from modern day journals to a 1541 Milan sermon denouncing gambling, Michel said. The materials, which are on display, support the Harrah College of Hotel Administration.

The collection includes rare books dating back to the 16th century that chronicle the history of gaming, the lifestyles of famous gamblers and gentlemen's clubs, and the rules of games, including every edition of Hoyle. The library also owns corporate archives and architectural drawings on most of the city's famous hotels, including the Sands and, more recently, Harrah's.

The library owns more than 5,000 manuscripts on people and companies important to the history of Nevada or Las Vegas, including more than 100 boxes from Howard Hughes' public relations director William Hannah, archives from the Union Pacific Railroad and documents on Hoover Dam.

The Hughes' collection includes clippings of every news story ever written about Hughes, notes from investigations Hughes ordered on other people or issues, from politicians to competing airlines, and copies of memos detailing Hughes' dispute with personal aid Bob Maheu.

The library also has almost all of the maps ever made of the region, dating back to when Spain controlled most of the West Coast. For the library's millionth volume, a mark the library hit early last year, Michel purchased a rare, four-volume history on the Spanish empire's control of the area. Written between 1601 and 1615 by Antonio de Herrera, the $55,000 set is in a locked glass display in the department's reading room.

The index and more information on the items in the collection are available online at library.unlv.edu / speccol/.

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