Our priceless oral histories

Sunday, Sept. 13, 2009 | 2:07 a.m.

People interested in Nevada’s past have an option for learning about it that does not always come immediately to mind — listening to oral histories.

We were reminded of that option last week when the research division of the Legislative Counsel Bureau announced it was distributing, to libraries statewide, oral histories provided by 16 former Nevada legislators.

The collection includes the salient legislative memories of Clark County’s Ray Rawson, who served as a state senator from 1984 to 2004. One memory he related is that of receiving death threats for supporting, ironically, a stronger seat belt law so that lives could be saved.

Collecting oral histories and making them available to the public is one of Nevada’s finer traditions. The histories are not only fascinating for people with a casual interest in yesteryear, but they also provide invaluable grist for historians. What makes oral histories so interesting is that people from all walks of life are and have been willing to relate their memories of Nevada. The oral history collections at UNLV and UNR contain remembrances covering innumerable facets of rural and urban life going back many decades.

Who could not be interested, for example, in the life of Eugenia May Bruns, whose oral history, recorded in 1965 and 1966, is on file at UNR. She was born in 1877 and lived as a young girl in Northern Nevada mining towns that no longer exist. Listeners can learn about those places, her teaching career and about a visit she took to Yosemite Valley in 1896.

UNLV’s collection includes the memories of Darrel Luce, who as a boy watched Hoover Dam being built and attended the now-historic Fifth Street Grammar School. His account includes his memories of living in Las Vegas during World War II. The university also has oral histories from people who worked at the Nevada Test Site during the Cold War.

Whether oral histories are enjoyed for a few pleasant hours or used by writers to make history come alive, they are priceless recordings that capture anecdotes and perspectives that would otherwise be lost forever.