Nevada’s Historic Preservation and Archaeological Awareness Month

Stay Home for Nevada

While May is usually an opportunity to participate in many family-friendly events that celebrate Historic Preservation and Archaeological Awareness, for 2020 we bring you some ideas for celebrating the unique cultural resources found in the Silver State from the comfort of your own home or in small family groups.   Enjoy!

Organizations

Nevada Preservation Foundation

• Explore Las Vegas: Self-Guided Historic Walking Tours  
• History at Home

Historic Reno Preservation Society

• Virtually or Individually Tour the City with Reno Historical  
  • Whether you’re staying inside or seeking a bit of fresh air, Reno Historical offers an engaging variety of tours to transport you across time and space. Just click Tours on the website (renohistorical.org) and you’ll find a range of options for exploring the city’s historic landscape.   More information: Carol Coleman, President, Historic Reno Preservation Society

State and Federal Options

National Park Service

• Lake Mead National Recreation Area:
  •  Virtual Museum 
  •  Historic Railroad Trail Virtual Experience  
  • St. Thomas “Ghost Town” (webpage and videos showing the town before it was inundated by Lake Mead)
• Great Basin National Park
  • History and Culture 
  • Video of Upper Pictograph Cave  
• Death Valley National Park
  • YouTube Channel 
  • Civilian Conservation Corps

Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources

• Explore, Archaeology, Report Damage, Protect Nevada’s Heritage 
• Citizen Stewardship: YOU can help preserve Nevada’s heritage

Travel Nevada 

• YouTube Channel
• Nevada Insider: Protector of Spring Mountain Ranch 
• American Indian Artistry: Tule Duck Decoys 
• Nevada’s American Indian Artistry: A Century of Heritage 
• Nevada’s Hidden Cave: The Past Stays Present 
• Central Nevada Museum, Tonopah 
• Discover Your Nevada, Railroad Museum in Carson City

Museums

• Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas Online Collections Navigate the database by using the links at the top of the page. If you want to browse, selecting "random image" is a good place to start. 
  • View 3-dimensional artifacts and artwork 
  • View photographs 
  • View records of manuscript/archival collections ("containers" refers to the list of folders within a manuscript collection")
• Neon Museum Virtual Tours, YouTube channel, web app, articles and interviews all online. 
• The Mob Museum Virtual tours and videos 
• National Atomic Testing Museum Videos Distinguished Lecture Series and Oral History Series 
• Northern Nevada Railway Museum 
  • Panoramic Virtual Reality Tour of the Main Yard in Ely, NV. 
  • Railway Videos

Local Government Options

• Lincoln County Nevada
  • Historical Photos with captions 
  • Oral History Interviews 

Universities

• University of Nevada, Reno
  • Digital Archives 
  • Anthropology Research Museum Nevada Baskets  
  • Jon Bilbao Basque Library Collections Basque Digital Collection has 342 images for Nevada, 69 for Reno, and 48 for Elko.
• University of Nevada, Las Vegas 
  • Special Collections and Archives Photographs 
  • Digital Collections 
    • Southern Nevada: The Boomtown Years 1900-1925 
    • Southern Nevada Jewish Heritage Project 
    • African American Experience in Las Vegas 
    • Nevada Test Site Oral History Project 
    • Southern Nevada History in Maps

Virtual Reality Tours of Nevada Resources