Search Help

How does this work?
There are many ways to search the collections of the Freedom Archives. Below is a brief guide that will help you conduct effective searches. Note, anytime you search for anything in the Freedom Archives, the first results that appear will be our digitized items. Information for items that have yet to be scanned or yet to be digitized can still be viewed, but only by clicking on the show link that will display the hidden (non-digitized) items. If you are interested in accessing these non-digitized materials, please email info@freedomarchives.org.
Exploring the Collections without the Search Bar
Under the heading Browse By Collection, you’ll notice most of the Freedom Archives’ major collections. These collections have an image as well as a short description of what you’ll find in that collection. Click on that image to instantly explore that specific collection.
Basic Searching
You can always type what you’re looking for into the search bar. Certain searches may generate hundreds of results, so sometimes it will help to use quotation marks to help narrow down your results. For instance, searching for the phrase Black Liberation will generate all of our holdings that contain the words Black and Liberation, while searching for “Black Liberation” (in quotation marks) will only generate our records that have those two words next to each other.
Advanced Searching
The Freedom Archives search site also understands Boolean search logic. Click on this link for a brief tutorial on how to use Boolean search logic. Our search function also understands “fuzzy searches.” Fuzzy searches utilize the (*) and will find matches even when users misspell words or enter in only partial words for the search. For example, searching for liber* will produce results for liberation/liberate/liberates/etc.
Keyword Searches
You’ll notice that under the heading KEYWORDS, there are a number of words, phrases or names that describe content. Sometimes these are also called “tags.” Clicking on these words is essentially the same as conducting a basic search.

Search Results

Reflections on conscientious objection to Vietname was and incarceration Reflections on conscientious objection to Vietname was and incarceration
Author: Tony HintzPublisher: Committee to End the Marion LockdownCollection: Committee to End the Marion Lockdown
Petition to Dir. J. Michael Quinlan Regarding Marion Water Supply Petition to Dir. J. Michael Quinlan Regarding Marion Water Supply
Publisher: Committee to End the Marion LockdownFormat: PetitionCollection: Committee to End the Marion Lockdown
No Control Unit Prisons at Marion, Florence or Anywhere Else! No Control Unit Prisons at Marion, Florence or Anywhere Else!
Publisher: Committee to End the Marion lockdownFormat: PetitionCollection: Committee to End the Marion Lockdown
Bill Dunne Re Colorado Bill Dunne Re Colorado
Author: Bill DunneFormat: CorrespondenceCollection: Committee to End the Marion Lockdown
Suggestions for campaign.
Women and Imprisonment in the US Women and Imprisonment in the US
Author: Nancy KurshanFormat: MonographCollection: Committee to End the Marion Lockdown
History of women's imprisonment since medieval ages. Discusses the disproportionate ratio of white to minority incarceration rates. Includes feminist discourse. Hard copy is reproduction of version that appeared in Cages of steel, edited by Ward Churchill and J.J. Vanderwall.
Marion Prison's Toxic Water: The Slow Death Penalty Marion Prison's Toxic Water: The Slow Death Penalty
Publisher: John Brown Anti-Klan Committee; Prairie Fire Organizing Committee; Freedom Now!; Committee to End the Marion LockdownFormat: FlyerCollection: Committee to End the Marion Lockdown
Demonstration on 4/24/; no year.
Illinois Supermax -- Not a Solution! Illinois Supermax -- Not a Solution!
Publisher: Committee to End the Marion LockdownFormat: FlyerCollection: Committee to End the Marion Lockdown
Educational flyer on Supermax prisons.
Marion = Alcatraz = Slow Death Penalty Marion = Alcatraz = Slow Death Penalty
Publisher: John Brown Anti-Klan Committee; Prairie Fire Organizing Committee; Freedom Now!; Committee to End the Marion LockdownFormat: FlyerCollection: Committee to End the Marion Lockdown
Resources Available Resources Available
Publisher: Committee to End the Marion LockdownFormat: FlyerCollection: Committee to End the Marion Lockdown
Resources available supplied by the Committee.
Shut Down the Control Units Shut Down the Control Units
Publisher: Committee to End the Marion LockdownFormat: FlyerCollection: Committee to End the Marion Lockdown
flyer on showings of the slide show on control units.