Deirdre Clemente’s research while affiliated with University of Nevada, Las Vegas and other places

In the college shop, “gushing freshmen” drank “limitless free Cokes” and jukeboxes “play forever without nickels.” These seasonal sections of the ever-evolving department store popped up “all over town during the last weeks of August, like mushrooms after a rain” and disappeared with the first frost. Here, a staff of students sold—and many more bought—casual clothing. The popularity of the shops in the 1930 s reached a fevered pitch in the 1940 s, but in a post-war shopping culture that prioritized diversity of choice and less didactic sales tactics, retailers moved casual clothes out of a specific area and into departments throughout the store. Women young and old followed the college woman's lead and collectively they demanded sweaters, culottes, sports coats, tennis shoes, gored skirts, and the much-bemoaned slacks. Manufacturers and retailers stopped trying to shape or even understand the women's choices; they just obliged. The lifecycle of the college shop gauges changes in American consumerism over time, but it also offers a more complete understanding of clothing as a primary and enduring aspect of the human experience.

Public historians have much to offer in current and coming debates about sustainability. In Las Vegas, our struggles to contextualize our often-misunderstood place while training our students to take advantage of new opportunities require a little extra effort. We have to start by convincing people that our place has something to offer to serious discussions about sustainability, that Las Vegas is more than simply the example of what not to be. Public history research provides critical context about place and points to how even contested landscapes can offer models for sustainable public history practice. © 2014 by The Regents of the University of California and the National Council on Public History.