LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — As America celebrates its 250th anniversary, Nevadans can peek at photo snapshots of pivotal moments in state history at the UNLV Special Collections and Archives.
Photos in the collection range from the 1830s and beyond, documenting portraits of ancestors of Nevadans, pioneer life in the Old West, work on the Southern Pacific Railroad, and the Hoover Dam.
As part of an effort among archivists to celebrate “America 250,” the collection contributed one iconic image: construction of the Hoover Dam with crews lifting a silo; a worker is seen inside, high above the ground.
Many of the images can be viewed online, but members of the public can come in person and ask for assistance to view collections; the director notes that public access to records is a critical part of our democracy.
“The fact that the Founding Fathers specified ready access to records as an important component of governance- a democratic value- I think that is really the most important aspect of archives and the historical record,” said Director Sarah Quigley.
“If you want to understand why things are the way that they are in the present, you have to understand the historical trajectory of how we got here. The way that you do that is to come to the archives where the records are preserved,” Quigley said.
MORE ON FOX5: One-stop shop for Las Vegas history: The UNLV archives department
Preserving priceless photos
The Preservation and Conservation Laboratory within the Special Collections and Archives is the only lab in the state of its kind with professional staff and a conservator.
Conservator Jay Tanner explains the effort to protect images based on knowledge of the types of photography methods and materials.
“A lot of photographs are unique or one of a kind, and any treatment that I do, I try to consider any of the potential risks, because if we lose that image, then we may only have a digital copy of it at that point,” he said.
Tanner showed old documents and photos that had been tossed in the trash or even discovered in old sheds.
Any time we’re doing a conservation repair, we’re always thinking about retreatability, reversibility– because after I’m gone, there might be another conservator who goes, ‘that wasn’t right, and we want to retreat that item,’” Tanner said.
“A lot of photographic materials are sensitive to water, and so you have to be careful with water. There are a ton of different types of photographs, and so knowing a lot about each photograph and knowing what it can and can’t handle,” he said.
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