In The News: Department of History
More than 3.5 million pounds of highly radioactive nuclear waste is buried on a coastal bluff just south of Orange County, near an idyllic beach name-checked in the Beach Boys’ iconic “Surfin’ U.S.A.” Spent fuel rods from the shuttered San Onofre nuclear power plant were supposed to be sent to a long-planned federal repository in Yucca Mountain, located in Nevada about 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
There are few items of clothing as iconic – or as purely American – as the classic varsity jacket. Yet, lately, it has been making a comeback, thanks in part to Italian powerhouse Prada, who featured a chic all-leather take on it at Milan fashion week in February. It has also been a central piece in much-hyped recent collaborations between Gap and Palace, and Supreme and MM6 Maison Margiela. Not even the digital space is safe: Louis Vuitton has been selling a “phygital” – AKA an NFT (non-fungible token) – version of a varsity jacket from the Pharrell-designed FW24 collection – yours to have and not hold for nearly £7,000.
Originally the preserve of Ivy League sportsmen, the jacket has seen incarnations from the likes of Salt-N-Pepa, Palace and Prada. And now Louis Vuitton’s NFT version is going for £7,000
Nevada’s US Senator Key Pittman died a few days before the November 1940 reelection that he was favored to win in a landslide. But his body was preserved in a bathtub full of ice so his seat could remain Democratic. Or so the story goes.
Las Vegas’ history is filled with infamous stories of mobsters leaving their mark on the city throughout the years, and of course, they also need places to live while in Sin City.
UNLV history professor Gregory Brown, along with other faculty and staff, founded the university’s first Jewish Affinity Group. Its aim is to host discussions on Jewish identity and expand UNLV’s Jewish studies.
The day many thought would never come arrived on Monday when there was a groundbreaking for a new high-speed rail to connect Las Vegas to Southern California. There has been talk about it for years, but those behind the Brightline West project say it's finally happening.
Oliver Lewis wasn't supposed to win the first Kentucky Derby.
One track on Taylor Swift’s new album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” honors a long-celebrated, oft-miscast heroine of American feminism: actress Clara Bow. As historians of the 1920s, we’ve studied Bow’s fame and her cultural legacy. At her ranch in rural Nevada, we oversee a collection of her personal artifacts, including her clothing and a makeup case.
The final track on Taylor Swift’s 11th studio album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” released on Friday, April 19, is named after a prominent Nevada historical figure. “You look like Clara Bow in this light, remarkable,” Taylor sings as the song about ambitious women begins. But who exactly was Clara Bow?
Oliver Lewis wasn't supposed to win the first Kentucky Derby. The jockey atop Aristides was instructed to have the horse serve as a "rabbit" and go hard at the beginning of the race to wear down the field, so stablemate Chesapeake could preserve his energy for the end to ride to victory.
In a town typically light on fashion and heavy on partisan friction, what one high-profile figure wore to a swanky White House affair has ignited a ferocious debate seemingly just as polarizing as politics in Washington.