Name/Title
Nig PapersEntry/Object ID
MS.13Scope and Content
Nig Papers
MS 13
Nig Plaque Controversy
Nig was a mongrel dog born under a house in Boulder City in 1932. He was adopted by workers on Hoover Dam as the construction project's mascot and essentially belonged to everybody and nobody. For some of the more interesting and touching stories of Nig, refer to Building Hoover Dam: An Oral History of the Great Depression by Andrew Dunar and Dennis McBride [New York: New York: Twayne Publishers, 1993], pp. 187-90, and to the pamphlet published in 1981 by Robert Parker.
Nig was killed on February 21, 1941 and workers buried him on the Nevada side of the dam and scratched the word NIG in his concrete grave marker. In 1978 the Bureau of Reclamation mounted a bronze plaque on the canyon wall over Nig's grave which read, NIG, THE DOG THAT ADOPTED A DAM... . A year later, Wisconsin tourist Clarence Kailin objected to the racist overtones of the plaque and grave and instigated a letter-writing campaign to have the plaque removed. The Bureau of Reclamation, bowing to pressure from Kailin and other government bureaucrats, removed the plaque in early 1979. Removing Nig's plaque inspired a backlash to have it replaced and the controversy was followed in the national and international media. The correspondence in this collection was received by the Boulder City News as part of a petition campaign to save Nig's plaque. The Bureau of Reclamation replaced the original plaque with a more generic one which did not mention Nig's name. And in early 1997 the Bureau covered Nig's concrete gravestone with a cap to keep his name hidden.
* * *Collection
ManuscriptsArchive Items Details
Notes
MS 13
Nig Papers
inventory
[2 boxes and 1 folder]
Box 1 of 2
folder no.
1. clippings
2. correspondence: anti-plaque [includes Kailin letter], 1979
3. correspondence: pro-plaque [Ayers - Duffer], 1979
4. correspondence: pro-plaque [Eley - Gunter], 1979
5. correspondence: pro-plaque [Hacker - Loveland], 1979
6. correspondence: pro-plaque [Maddox - Nystrom], 1979
7. correspondence: pro-plaque [Olney - Rydalah], 1979
8. correspondence: pro-plaque [Samples - Zettner], 1979
9. correspondence: pro-plaque [unidentified], 1979
10. correspondence: pro-plaque [St. Elizabeth's School, Van Nuys,
CA (envelopes only)], 1979
11. correspondence: pro-plaque [petition from Los Angeles
(May 31, 1979)]
12. correspondence: U. S. Bureau of Reclamation response to
letter-writing campaign [1979]
13. notes
14. ephemera
Box 2 of 2
item: original Nig plaque [1978]
Folder 1 of 1
item: Nig posters
* * *Location
Location
* Untyped Location
Basement ArchivesDate
February 19, 2025Relationships
Related Person or Organization
Person or Organization
Kailin, ClarencePerson or Organization
Parker, Thomas R. "Bob"Person or Organization
NigRelated Entries
Notes
photographs
subject files [Racism]Created By
admin@catalogit.appCreate Date
July 7, 2002Updated By
bcmha.archives@gmail.comUpdate Date
September 3, 2025