Dave Schwartz, Poker Archivist, The WSOP Collection at UNLV

Binion's Horseshoe WSOP
Collection is a treasure trove
for those interested in all
aspects of the World Series of
Poker. The collection, donated
to the university by Jack
Binion, covers the WSOP from
its start in 1970 to 2004.

Poker Archivist: The World Series
of Poker Collection at UNLV

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Poker
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World Series of
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UNLV

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coordinator of the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada,
Las Vegas (UNLV). A part of his duties has to do with overseeing the
university's special collection on gaming.

Within that section is the "Binion's Horseshoe Collection," a treasure trove for
those interested in all aspects of the World Series of Poker. The collection,
donated to the university by Jack Binion, covers the WSOP from its start in
1970 to 2004. The extent of the collection is recorded as "9 linear feet (8
Hollinger boxes, 2 document boxes)." According to Schwartz, dubbed
"gaming's leading historian" by Global Gaming Business, documents include
event proceedings, press releases, newspaper and magazine clippings,
photographs, scrapbooks, event schedules and programs, participation lists,
day-by-day results of play, players' brochures, audiocassette tapes,
videotapes, promotional pamphlets, newsletters, display ads in both draft
and finished form, awards, advertising budgets, a few pieces of business
correspondence and invoices, drawings, published writings, handwritten
notes, a movie script, business proposals, and two posters.

A significant amount of printed and photographic publicity material within the
WSOP series focuses on women poker players and gender-related issues in
the industry and covers the late 1970's and early 1980's. "Clippings and
photographs about women's tournaments are especially valuable," Schwartz
notes. He goes on, "The collection has many resources for the history of the
World Series of Poker and most have not been used for scholarly research to
date." It's mostly old fashioned, poke-around-in-boxes research. There is a
press attendance list for the 1977 WSOP. The 1979 WSOP list includes an ad
for Dutch Master cigars. Many contain press kits given out each year.
According to Schwartz, "I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for all of this to be
digitized because it is being preserved as original documents.

"However, Schwartz points out, "There are some historical things about the
WSOP that are online now and available to anyone." He points to a virtual
museum on the Center's website. One part of this is the "World Series of
Poker: A retrospective."

This can be found at gaming.unlv.edu/WSOP/welcome.html. Here visitors
can browse through a series of photo galleries, read from Benny Binion's oral
history, examine annual summaries of the WSOP, be directed to writings
about it, and find out more information about the tournament and the
Horseshoe casino. Some other special aspects of the collection: there are
approximately 100 black and white photographs of the inaugural WSOP in
1970. There are inside and outside shots of the Horseshoe Casino, Binion's
Montana ranch, Jack Binion doing promotional giveaways for the Horseshoe,
and roadside billboards advertising the Horseshoe. The formats run the
gamut from professional black and white 8 x 10 prints to color snapshots and
amateur Polaroid's. There are also negatives and contact sheets in the photo
collection. There is another section on artwork: drawings, lithographs, and
plaques and certificates of appreciation for the Binions' donations to
philanthropic causes. There is a charcoal drawing of Jack Binion, artist
unknown. There is a Stan Hunt cartoon drawing of Jack Binion, Jimmy the
Greek, Jack Straus, and Puggy Pearson. Still another section on audiovisual
materials has video cassettes on the life of Benny Binion, the WSOP over
various years, and the Poker Hall of Fame which the Binions initiated in 1979
and which fittingly includes Benny and Jack.

Schwartz points to the many press clippings that are in the collection. "These
are pretty valuable and they have not been used much. They are not just
from local papers. They are from all over the country." Schwartz, a
non-gambler ("I don't like it"), is the author of three books: Suburban
Xanadu, about the rise of casino resorts, Uneasy Convictions: The American
Pursuit of Gaming and the Wire Act, which analyzes American attempts at
gambling prohibition and focuses on a federal law currently used to stifle
Internet gaming, and the soon-to-be-published, Roll the Bones, a popular
history of gambling throughout the world. Born in Atlantic City, Schwartz
worked in surveillance before heading west for graduate studies. He regularly
speaks on the history of Las Vegas, the history of gaming, casino
surveillance, gaming and technology, and related issues.

In addition to speaking and chairing sessions at the Global Gaming Expo and
gaming conferences in Asia and Australia, he has spoken to groups including
the American Bar Association, the Casino Chip and Gaming Token Collectors
Club, the Service Corps of Retired Executives, the Popular Culture
Association, the Association for Information Technology Professionals, and
American Mensa. He has lectured on the influence of Bugsy Siegel and Frank
Sinatra on Vegas culture. One researcher poking around in the collection is
Jim McManus, author of Positively Fifth Street. McManus has a new book in
the works on the history of poker. With WSOP 2006 soon upon us, here is a
gold mine of information about The Big One for historians, the media, and
those who are serious about following the trail that has been laid down by
the poker pioneers.

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