It is not difficult to locate William Vaughn Howard (1921-1986) along the spectrum of art movements in the United States when he joined the faculty of the University of Nevada, Reno art department in 1963. Abstract Expressionism still held sway over museums and galleries, both their collections and exhibits, and Howard held up Abstract Expressionism as the stylistic model in his classroom.

The site of modern-day Winnemucca has been important to Nevada since the first explorers traversed the region in the late 1820s. It later became a critical place for early settlers, and marked the point at which the immigrant trail headed south toward the Sierra Nevada passes. Winnemucca became a major distribution point for the Central Pacific Railroad, established itself as the center of commerce in north-central Nevada, and was the site of a major bank robbery that remains controversial to this day.

Dancer, journalist, community activist, and political leader, Alice Key made many contributions to Las Vegas and civil rights.

Born on March 18, 1911 in Henderson, Kentucky, she moved as an infant to Riverside, California, with her entire family. She grew up across the street from her grandfather, who instilled a fierce Black pride in her. On the day of her high school graduation in 1928, she left to join her mother, who had taken a position in Los Angeles a few months earlier.

Zoray Andrus is often identified with the artistic fortunes of Virginia City. A native of Alameda, California, she attended California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, and studied with a number of influential artists including Hans Hoffman at the University of California–Berkeley. Andrus arrived on the Comstock in 1935.