Journalist Jon Ralston has covered Harry Reid beginning with his first Senate race in 1986, continuing until the Senator’s passing in December of 2021. Now he’s published a new book, a biography, titled, “The Game Changer - How Harry Reid Remade the Rules and Showed Democrats How to Fight.”

In the book Ralston examines how a Searchlight miner's son rose to become one of America's most influential political leaders. The reader is invited to discover the untold stories behind Reid's legendary tenacity and what his journey teaches us about Nevada leadership, resilience, and the American dream.

Ralston said, “Reid was by far the most fascinating person I’ve covered for a variety of reasons. I always wanted to write a book about Reid, but it took me a long time to convince him because we had a rocky relationship. Eventually he agreed. He summoned me to his office after he was out of office at the Bellagio on the Las Vegas Strip and agreed to do it.”

Ralston said Reid admitted he wasn’t going to like everything in the book, but expressed he knew Ralston was the right person to write it.

“Unfortunately, he passed away about six months after I started interviewing him for the book,” Ralston said. “Although, I did get 24 great Zoom interviews with him before he passed.”

When Reid agreed to do the book, Ralston was unaware Reid had an archive.

“He told me he was going to give me access to his archive and this really piqued my curiosity,” Ralston said. “That’s where the Libraries, SCUA and the Archives came in.”

To draft his book, Ralston partnered with the University Libraries’ Special Collections and University Archives (SCUA) department from 2021-2024 to conduct his research using the Libraries largest and most prominent political papers collections, the Harry Reid Papers collection.

“SCUA was an invaluable informational support system to me after he passed away,” Ralston said. “SCUA helped me fill in blanks, so I could draft my book. They deserve all the credit. The book wouldn’t be nearly as rich as it is if it weren’t for SCUA helping support me in my research and sharing their skills and talents with me. I can’t thank Kim, Ian and Jess enough.”

To celebrate the launch of this new Reid biography, the University Libraries along with University President Brian Sandoval will host Ralston for a lively discussion on Wednesday, Feb. 25, from 5:30 – 7 p.m. inside the Harlan O. & Barbara R. Hall Recital Hall, at the University Foundation Arts Building. This free event is open to the public. Advance registration is required.

"We are honored to host this event for the community,” Catherine Cardwell, dean of the University Libraries said. “President Sandoval and Mr. Ralston’s discussion will bring history to life and showcase SCUA’s deep expertise in archiving and preserving significant collections for researchers."

The Harry Reid Papers collection

As he wrapped-up his 30-year career in the U.S. Senate Reid announced he would be donating his political papers collection to the University Libraries Special Collections and University Archives department. When the papers were donated in 2016, Reid pointed to many milestones in his career that had enhanced the state's profile on the national stage and modernized Nevada's economy and quality of life. This included his time as Senate Majority Leader, as well as his leadership in the passage of landmark clean and renewable energy legislation that has led to thousands of Nevada jobs, as well as the creation of Nevada's national park, Great Basin, and his instrumental role in bringing unprecedented attention and funding to save Lake Tahoe. The Harry Reid Papers collection spans more than a half-century of Nevada’s and the nation's political history.

It is massive in size, coming in at 1,188 linear feet composed of 1,046 boxes of materials and approximately 7,751 Gigabytes of digital records, both digitized and born digital materials. Twelve million digital files in total.

Due to the volume of materials found in the collection, and the amount of processing and organizing work needed to make it available to the public, the Libraries hired Ian McGlory in 2017 to take the role of Harry Reid Papers archivist. Nathan Gerth was also hired to assist with the processing of the digital files found in this collection.

"Archivists organize and provide access to information within collections allowing for the creation of new knowledge," McGlory said. “Essentially, I care for and manage permanent collections of information that are intended to preserve the past and allow others to discover it.”

Nearly nine years after work began in 2017, the collection is almost open to the public. Come Nov. 1, 2026 the physical collection will be officially open and available for use by researchers, faculty, staff, community members, biographers and more.

Processing the physical collection

To make physical collection available, McGlory and a team of student workers took an inventory of what was inside each of the 1,046 boxes in the collection. Then, from there, the boxes were arranged in some sort of functional order. After the boxes were organized, and the inventory of the contents was gathered and recorded, the team generated a series of lists describing what was found in the physical collection. From there, the team generated metadata to help formally describe the collections’ contents. The metadata was then used to create a master finding aid for the collection. Each entry on the finding aid had to be vetted in a quality assurance process. Once quality assurance was complete, each section of the collection received its own abstract outlining what can be found in the body of records.

“We worked hard to create inventories that would be the basis for the descriptive information found in the finding aids we were creating,” McGlory said. “We want users of the collection to know what is available to them, and how best to access it.”

McGlory added, “Housing this collection in SCUA helps further build our larger political papers collection. I see this collection as being less about the politician and more about the constituents, providing a snapshot into what was happening issues-wise at the time.”

SCUA’s Political Papers collection

SCUA is home to more than 200 political papers collections that include people who were in office, ran for office, were in politically focused action groups and more. These collections represent the intersection of the people of the state of Nevada and government.

“These collections can be spun in many ways for research projects,” said Kimberly Anderson, Ph.D., associate professor and director, distinctive collections. “Researchers can look at books, study a topical issue, evaluate civil rights, law, military funding and more.”

Because of Harry Reid’s political legacy and status this collection is one of few comprehensive political papers collections available to researchers.

“When he donated his collection to SCUA, he donated in a way to ensure everything was included,” Anderson said. “He gave us his entire papers. They provide an actual representation of what Reid and his staff did. It is a real treasure trove of a collection.”

Those interested in accessing the physical collection when it is open to the public this November, are asked to review the Harry Reid Papers collection guide online, as well as SCUA’s Onsite Visits webpage for more information.

About Jon Ralston

A winner of over 15 press awards, Jon has appeared on MSNBC and "Meet the Press." His Nevada journalism credits include the Ralston Reports blog, The Ralston Report political newsletter, "Ralston Live" on Vegas PBS, "Ralston Reports" on KSNV News 3, and his Nevada-centric political newsletter "The Flash." He also worked many years as a columnist for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the Las Vegas Sun, and the Reno Gazette-Journal. He is also a member of the Nevada Newspaper Hall of Fame.

Jon is originally from Buffalo, New York. He has a B.A. in English from Cornell University and a M.A. in journalism from the University of Michigan.

About Special Collections and University Archives

Special Collections and University Archives (SCUA) stewards unique, rare, and historically significant resources in a variety of formats primarily documenting the Northwestern Great Basin and the University of Nevada, Reno. We build and maintain collections that support research, teaching, and learning for the campus community and the public at large.