Some exceptional items and artifacts dwell among the collections at Las Vegas’ museums and historical sites. So we asked local museum professionals to pick their favorite objects — at a museum not their own.
🧱 Bricks by Brick
“Two adobe brick walls at the Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort State Park are the last remnants of the oldest non-Native structure in Nevada. Mormon missionaries, sent to Las Vegas in 1855, poured a mixture of clay, sand, and water into wooden forms and left them in the sun to dry. More than 80,000 bricks were made to build the fort’s four 14-foot walls. Two sections of the original walls still stand. A visit to the state park in downtown Las Vegas is well worth the $3 entry fee and an hour of your time.”
Chosen by: Geoff Schumacher, vice president of exhibits and programs, The Mob Museum
🏘️ House Proud
"I love the street of heritage houses at the Clark County Museum — the way the objects insist on the past while the museum signs try to pull you back into the present, leaving you hovering at a midway point that I find coolly ineffable. The signs have the brisk, willing tone of a teacher who knows you’re going to learn something, but the rooms that surround you are dominant and mute, aware that whatever they have to say is unsayable, and you wouldn’t understand it anyway."
Chosen by: D.K. Sole, editor, curator, Barrick Museum, UNLV
🖼️ Valley View
“Among my favorite artifacts in Las Vegas is the 1876 Fredrick Dellenbaugh oil painting of the Las Vegas Valley at the Nevada State Museum in Las Vegas. Millions of photographs have captured our beautiful landscape, but this is among the first recordings of what the Las Vegas Valley looked like in the late 19th century. Paintings like this can tell us so much about a different time and place in history. Thank you to the stewards of this amazing work of art!”
Chosen by: Emily Fellmer, senior collections manager, The Neon Museum
⌛ Ancient Relics
"Ever since I was a child, I have been fascinated with ancient Egypt, and the first time I saw the Las Vegas Natural History Museum's "Treasures of Egypt" exhibit I was in awe. They have this great collection of artifact re-creations of pieces from King Tutankhamun's tomb that were actually authorized by the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities."
Chosen by: Joseph Kent, director of curation and exhibits, The Atomic Museum
