Exhibit to bring Culinary Union history to community

The Culinary Union and UNLV partnered to present: "Line in the Sand: The People, Power, and Progress of the Culinary Union"
 

To learn more about this exhibit, go to: www.UNLVPublicHistory.com/Culinary

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UNLV TO PREMIERE EXHIBITION ON THE CULINARY UNION IN LAS VEGAS

LAS VEGAS, NV- On Thursday, December 4, 2014,  the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Public History program will open an exciting student-curated exhibit, “Line in the Sand: The People, Power and Progress of the Culinary Union.” The exhibition will run from December 5, 2014 through April 1, 2015, in the first floor gallery of the UNLV University’s Lied Library. 

This dynamic exhibit explores the tenacious and determined history between the Culinary Workers Union, Local 226 and the city of Las Vegas.  Founded in 1935, the Culinary Union is more than 55,000 members strong and one of the most recognizable labor organizations in the country.

Using objects and images on display for the first time, the exhibition showcases the stories of the men and women who have labored behind the neon lights in Downtown Las Vegas and on the world famous Las Vegas Strip as housekeepers, kitchen workers, cooks, food servers, porters, bartenders, and cocktail servers. 

“We are pleased to have partnered with UNLV to present the casino workers’ history of Las Vegas,” said Geoconda Arguello-Kline, secretary-treasurer of the Culinary Union. “Culinary Union members have been fighting for working families and good jobs for nearly 80 years and this exhibit is a celebration of the people who helped build Las Vegas.”

Through banners, buttons, t-shirts, picket signs, photographs, personal memorabilia, and oral histories from worker-turned-union leaders such as D. Taylor, Hattie Canty, and Geoconda Arguello-Kline, “Line in the Sand” demonstrates the sometimes tense push-and-pull of organizing, worker/casino negotiations, and explores the interconnected development of the Culinary Union and the city.

“To fully understand Las Vegas history, we must look at the ways union activism influenced and was influenced by the exponential growth of the tourism industry,” said curator Hannah Robinson.  Sample artifacts include a t-shirt designed for members who participated in the 1984 strike against 32 casinos that reads, “We struck, we stuck, scabs suck.” The shirt is displayed next to photographs of the event that testify to union solidarity amid discord.

Graduate students in the public history program researched, curated and wrote the exhibition as part of their coursework, under the direction of Dr. Deirdre Clemente, Associate Director of UNLV’s Public History Program. The oral histories were supervised and coordinated by Claytee White, Director of the UNLV Oral History Research Center. The partnership between UNLV and the Culinary Union for this two-year project and the responsibility of going through the Culinary Union’s physical and digital archives was facilitated by Bethany Khan, the Director of Digital Strategy for the Culinary Union.

College of Liberal Arts Dean Chris Hudgins recently acknowledged the importance of this work, saying: “The fruitful relationship between our excellent Department of History and the University Libraries has allowed our students and faculty to document, preserve, and to analyze very significant aspects of the history of Las Vegas from multiple perspectives, many of which would be lost were it not for these wonderful collaborations with the community we serve."

“Line in the Sand” is presented in collaboration with the Culinary Workers Union, the Bartenders Union, UNLV University Libraries, the College of Liberal Arts, the Nevada State Museum, and the Las Vegas New Bureau.  

For more information on the UNLV public history program, visit: www.UNLVPublicHistory.com.

http://www.culinaryunion226.org/news/press/unlv-to-premiere-exhibition-on-the-culinary-union-in-las-vegas

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UNLV’s Public History Program and University Libraries Bring Culinary Union History to the Community

LAS VEGAS, NV - The graduate students of the Public History Program at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and the UNLV University Libraries have teamed up to present an exhibit that captures the important history of one of the nation’s most recognizable unions, the Culinary Workers Union, Local 226, the largest local of UNITE HERE. “Line in the Sand: The People, Power, and Progress of the Culinary Union” is open to the public and will be on display from Dec. 5, 2014, through April 1, 2015, on the first floor of UNLV’s Lied Library.

This exhibit is the product of growing partnership that was forged between the Culinary Union and UNLV two years ago. Last spring, the Culinary Union invited students of UNLV’s Public History Program, under the guidance of Dr. Deirdre Clemente, to explore its storage sheds and closets to learn more about the largest union in Nevada. There, students discovered hidden treasures-various display objects such as banners, buttons, t-shirts, picket signs, photographs, and personal memorabilia just waiting to be curated and shared with the public for the first time.

The objects, however, represent only part of the Culinary Union’s rich history of nearly 80 years. The exhibit would continue to take shape as the stories of union members were gathered by students under the tutelage of UNLV Libraries’ Oral History Research Center (OHRC) Director Claytee White and facilitated by Bethany Khan, Director of Digital Strategy for the Culinary Union.

Oral histories containing stories from the 1960s to present day breathe additional life into the objects displayed behind the glass and provide insight into the experiences of those who have been part of the Culinary Union and Las Vegas’ world famous hospitality industry. Sound bites from union members and leaders will be available through QR codes that can be activated by visitors’ smartphones as they walk through the exhibit, adding another dimension to the experience of “Line in the Sand.”

UNLV celebrates the innovative collaboration with the Culinary Union that has enabled the history of Nevada’s largest labor organization to be shared with the greater Southern Nevada community through this dynamic exhibit.

“Central to the mission of the UNLV Libraries is to collect materials and oral histories that document Southern Nevada,” said Patricia Iannuzzi, Dean of the UNLV University Libraries. “The story of this region cannot be told without the voices and materials of its workers. UNLV Libraries and our Oral History Research Center are proud to help facilitate this wonderful student-led project.”

The exhibit will also highlight the Culinary Academy of Las Vegas, an internationally recognized model for labor-management cooperation, workplace education and vocational training, and the Culinary Health Fund, which provides medical coverage for over 120,000 participants in Nevada

“Line in the Sand” is presented in cooperation with the Culinary Union, the Bartenders Union, UNLV University Libraries, the College of Liberal Arts, the Nevada State Museum, and the Las Vegas News Bureau.

For more information on the UNLV Public History Program, please visit: www.UNLVPublicHistory.com.

For additional information on the “Line in the Sand” exhibition, please visit: www.UNLVPublicHistory.com/Culinary.

http://www.culinaryunion226.org/news/press/unlvs-public-history-program-and-university-libraries-bring-culinary-union-history-to-the-community

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