UNLV Library Archives Preserve Blueprints and Sketches of Iconic Las Vegas Casinos

Las Vegas’ casino history isn’t just told through neon signs and nostalgia tours. A significant piece of it lives inside file boxes and flat drawers at UNLV’s Special Collections and Archives, where blueprints, concept sketches, and personal papers tied to some of the Strip’s most iconic resorts are preserved for researchers, historians, and the simply curious.

Among the standout pieces is a 1967 concept drawing for Circus Circus, the carnival-themed casino that opened its doors in 1968. “This is a concept drawing. This is from 1967; Circus Circus opened in 1968,” said Kristian Taketomo, curator of gaming collections at UNLV, describing how early planning documents can predate a property’s public debut by months or even years.

A Paper Trail Behind the Neon

The Circus Circus drawings are part of a broader architectural record held by UNLV, which includes drafting sets prepared by architect Homer Rissman for Circus Circus, Inc. at the resort’s original site on Las Vegas Boulevard South. Those materials sit alongside other finding aids covering decades of Strip development, from early hotel-casino blueprints to later renovation and expansion projects.

UNLV’s holdings also include the Jay Sarno Papers, a collection tied to the man behind both Circus Circus and Caesars Palace. That collection spans publicity materials, promotional ephemera, and architectural drawings, including sketches for a penthouse addition to Caesars Palace’s tower dated to 1967 — the same era captured in the Circus Circus concept art.

Why the Archive Matters

Taketomo said the casino-related materials represent only a fraction of what Special Collections holds, but they illustrate why the broader archive is worth preserving. Blueprints and sketches capture decisions that never made it into press releases: design pivots, scrapped concepts, and the early visual identity of properties that would go on to define the Strip’s skyline for generations.

For a city whose landmarks are frequently demolished and rebuilt, that kind of documentation is one of the few permanent records of how Las Vegas actually took shape. Properties can be imploded in a matter of seconds, but the drafting tables and correspondence behind them can live on indefinitely in an archive built for exactly that purpose.

UNLV’s gaming collection continues to grow through donations and acquisitions tied to Nevada’s casino industry, giving researchers, students, and longtime fans of Las Vegas history a resource that goes well beyond what’s visible on the casino floor today. Even as the city plans its next wave of major Las Vegas resort expansion, the archive stands as a record of how the Strip’s earliest landmarks first took shape on paper.