Nearby, boxes of leather cowboy boots from Helldorado Days past lie next to a stereoviewer from the 1930s through which one can view images of Hoover Dam, at the time known as “Boulder Dam.” The machine stands nearly 7 feet tall and is about 6 feet wide. In a second room, next to a couple of old gaming tables, rests “Big Bertha,” an ancient slot machine from a Wendover casino that boasts a “big payout” of $5,000. The museum stores both microfiche and bound hard copies of local newspapers, including early issues of the Las Vegas Evening Review-Journal, which dropped the “Evening” in 1949. The names of McBride’s parents, married in 1954 at the Little Church of the West, appear there. One room contains documents, such as old Clark County deeds – “property records from pioneering families,” McBride says – and marriage records from the early 1900s to the 1950s. Most of the rarely seen artifacts are more interesting than wet wipes or milk cartons. Every moment that passes becomes history.” Still, even something as mundane as a milk carton can be historic, McBride says. Sali Underwood, the museum’s curator of natural history, says staffers probably saved it because there’s an advertisement for the museum on the side. He opens it carefully and extracts a modern, empty milk carton from a local dairy. “You would be amazed at what we turn up,” McBride says, selecting a small box at random from a stack of dozens. – from local casinos, mementos of Nevada’s past. The museum keeps loads of past promotional and other materials – keno sheets, pamphlets, ashtrays, etc. They’re emblazoned with the logo of the Mint, a local casino that dates back to the mid-1950s and later became Binion’s. “That’s how you preserve organic material.”Īll of this to protect delicate donated, borrowed or purchased artifacts – that may or may not be used in future exhibits – such as … the wet wipes.īut these are no ordinary wet wipes. “We keep everything clean, dry, dark and covered,” McBride says. There’s a state-of-the-art fire suppression system. The museum keeps the storage rooms at a temperature in the low 70s, with 54 percent humidity. The rest is for records, offices and storage.ĭown a few flights of stairs, under lock and key, are “artifacts of every description,” McBride says. The building includes about 13,000 square feet of permanent and temporary exhibit space. The new $51.5 million, 70,000-square-foot museum opened in October 2011, after a six-year wait caused by construction and funding issues. Many more still are waiting in boxes to be unpacked after the museum’s big move more than a year ago from the much smaller Lorenzi Park location. Others are locked away in countless cabinets. Some are neatly stacked on massive shelves that move at the touch of a button. Thousands of artifacts rest in three huge, vault-like rooms below the museum itself. Like most museums, roughly 80 percent of its stock is in storage, McBride says. But the execution chair and much of the museum’s other inventory remains hidden. Plenty of historic treasures are on display at the museum next to the Springs Preserve, at Valley View Boulevard and U.S. The chair makes an impressively morbid sight one the public doesn’t get to see – for now, anyway. Its leather restraints are still attached. The relic from the now-shuttered Nevada State Prison was used for executions in the 1950s, when the procedure was accomplished by dropping cyanide gas pellets into a bowl of sulfuric acid. “Sometimes, when things get to be too much, I strap myself in,” the deadpan McBride says while sitting on one of his favorite artifacts: the execution chair. World Nomads offers simple and flexible travel insurance.Dennis McBride, head honcho at Nevada State Museum, deals with his in an unusual way.A prepaid Suica card makes travelling around Tokyo much easier - here's how.If you're visiting more than one city, save a ton of money with a Japan Rail Pass – here's why it's worth it.Check my guides to arriving at Narita Airport and at Haneda Airport. Compare airline flight prices and timings for the best Japan flight deals.See my comprehensive Packing List For Japan.Or rent an unlimited data pocket wifi router You can buy a Japan SIM card online for collection on arrival at Tokyo Narita or Haneda airports.Need tips on where to stay? See my one page guide Where To Stay In Tokyo.Check Tokyo accommodation availability and pricing on – usually you can reserve a room with no upfront payment.For all the essentials in a brief overview, see my First Time In Tokyo guide.
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