Women whose life experiences helped to shape Southern Nevada, and whose stories are included in the Las Vegas Women's Oral History Project, will be honored Oct. 17 during the second annual reception of the UNLV-based Women's Research Institute of Nevada (WRIN).
The event, which will be hosted by former U.S. Sen. Richard H. Bryan, will take place from 3-5 p.m. at the Richard Tam Alumni Center. The reception is free and open to the public; however, individuals must make reservations to attend by calling 895-4931.
"The Las Vegas Women's Oral History Project was started by the institute to address the scarcity of historical research on women who have helped to shape Southern Nevada," said Joanne Goodwin, director of WRIN.
"For the past five years we have collected the stories of more than 40 women and we just recently completed the first 22 oral histories," Goodwin explained. "We've interviewed showgirls and dancers as well as managers, housekeepers, waitresses, teachers, and business owners. We were particularly interested in the women who were part of the area's development before 1980. Many of our interviewees came here during the 1940s and 1950s. We wanted to know why women came and why they stayed, and also how they described their lives, what they saw as important, and how they combined family and work. Some of the honorees who are being recognized at this year's reception are widely known, others are not, but all of them give us a fuller understanding of how Las Vegas came to be."
Some of the women whose life stories are to be honored at this year's reception include:
-- Fluff LeCoque, manager of the production show "Jubilee!" at Bally's, who first came to Las Vegas to work as a dancer for Margaret Kelly's famed Bluebell Girls.
-- Betty Bunch, who joined the Moro-Landis dancers at age 18 and eventually went on to dance in the chorus lines of several Las Vegas resorts.
-- Toni Clark, who came to Las Vegas with her husband, Wilbur Clark, in the 1950s to develop the Desert Inn.
-- Sarann Preddy, whose determination and persistence succeeded in keeping the Moulin Rouge an historic landmark.
-- Hattie Canty, a Culinary union president, who focused on education and training as a means toward economic independence.
-- Lucille Bryant, who worked in the housekeeping departments of several Las Vegas hotels after leaving Tallulah, La., in 1953 because the only work available for her there as an African-American woman was picking cotton or private domestic work.
"Through our interviews with these women we have learned about the entertainment jobs that brought thousands of women to Las Vegas as showgirls and dancers; we have gained a deeper appreciation for the particular challenges of the era; and we have found that women seized the opportunity to get a better job or to work in their chosen field," Goodwin said.
For more information about the Women's Research Institute of Nevada's reception and the Las Vegas Women's Oral History Project, call WRIN at 895-4931.
