the brad johns archives
Documenting an Icon
Brad Johns was my mentor. He showed me by example how to be commanding yet kind, generous and idealistic. The first time I met him, I watched him gently ask a bossy, new client to leave the salon because she was “not looking for my kind of blonde.” I was a 24-year-old, junior assistant beauty editor making $26,000 a year living in Brooklyn, and I knew right away. Brad Johns was brilliant.
The Brad Johns Archives is a partnership between the Estate of Brad Johns and the Reid Public History Institute at UNLV that preserves the self-curated legacy of an influential American hair colorist, artist, and cultural tastemaker.
The collection features Brad’s documents, artwork, and material culture, At the Institute’s headquarters in Las Vegas, gradute students are preserving, digitizing, researching, and interpreting these materials. The archive advances education, scholarship, and public engagement while preparing Brad’s legacy for long-term museum stewardship.