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

Luis Talamantez interview Luis Talamantez interview
Call Number: PM 014Format: 1/4 7 1/2 ipsProgram: Nothing Is More Precious ThanCollection: San Quentin Six
Interview with several long inserts with Luis Talamantez/one of San Quentin 6, interviewer may be Fania Jordan. Talamantez mentions Mark Merin as good defense attorney.
Attica Anniversary Program in Bay Area Attica Anniversary Program in Bay Area
Date: 9/13/1991Call Number: PM 086AFormat: Cass AProgram: Attica anniversary event, not for radioCollection: Attica
This tape in a recording of the 20th Attica anniversary event held in San Francisco. Bobby Castillo speaks on Native American and African American solidarity within the National Liberation movement, and the Movimento Liberacion Nacional (MLN) marching on Washington that week. Attorney. Bob Bloom gives an update on the Geronimo Pratt case. Dharuba Bin Wahad, s.n. Richard Moore, gives a talk on the history of national liberation struggle, including the Black Liberation Army, Attica, San Quentin and Cointelpro.
Lexington Prison Interviews (1987) Lexington Prison Interviews (1987)
Date: 5/1/1987Call Number: PM 184AFormat: Cass AProducers: Judy GerberCollection: Lexington Control Unit for Women
Political prisoners Alejandrina Torres, Silvia Baraldini, and Susan Rosenberg describe their living conditions at the control unit of the federal women’s prison in Lexington which opened in 1986: radical isolation, constant surveillance, sensory deprivation, no personal property, limited visits, etc. Defined by the government as the most dangerous women in prison for their political activities in various anti-war and liberation movements, Torres, Baraldini, and Rosenberg have been subjected to a sophisticated kind of psychological torture. According to them they have been used as examples of the consequences to be expected if one challenges the hegemony of US power. The interviews stress the importance of public pressure to have the unit closed.
Lexington Prison Interviews (1987) Lexington Prison Interviews (1987)
Date: 5/1/1987Call Number: PM 185AFormat: Cass AProducers: Judy GerberCollection: Lexington Control Unit for Women
Same as PM 184 Political prisoners Alejandrina Torres, Silvia Baraldini, and Susan Rosenberg describe their living conditions at the control unit of the federal women’s prison in Lexington which opened in 1986: radical isolation, constant surveillance, sensory deprivation, no personal property, limited visits, etc. Defined by the government as the most dangerous women in prison for their political activities in various anti-war and liberation movements, Torres, Baraldini, and Rosenberg have been subjected to a sophisticated kind of psychological torture. According to them they have been used as examples of the consequences to be expected if one challenges the hegemony of US power. The interviews stress the importance of public pressure to have the unit closed.
Rockefeller on Attica and then some Rockefeller on Attica and then some
Date: 9/25/1974Call Number: PM 209AFormat: Cass ACollection: Attica
Nelson Rockefeller on the Attica Rebellion, Herman Bell excerpts from PM 207, Bernardine Dohrn reads Weather Underground Organization Communique #5.
Pelican Bay Program (1 of 2) Pelican Bay Program (1 of 2)
Date: 10/1/1991Call Number: PM 220Format: CassetteCollection: Pelican Bay
Corey Weinstein and Catherine Campbell discuss their trip to Pelican Bay Prison in Northern California as part of a legal delegation affiliated with the Real Dragon Prison Project. Included are descriptions of Control Units and the infamous "SHU de-briefing” techniques, as well as the prison system’s use of informants and the effects of the psychological torture used against prisoners. Weinstein and Campbell also dispel some of the myths surrounding the "worst of the worst" label put on many prisoners housed in Pelican Bay and expose the roundup of anti-authoritarian and prisoner with organizing and leadership potential.
Pelican Bay Program (2 of 2) Pelican Bay Program (2 of 2)
Date: 10/1/1991Call Number: PM 221Format: CassetteCollection: Pelican Bay
CONTINUED FROM PM 220: Corey Weinstein and Catherine Campbell continue their discussion of the conditions within the Pelican Bay Prison. Weinstein and Campbell elaborate on the relationships between different prison groups, guard torture and brutality, and the economic condition and opinions of the communities surrounding Pelican Bay Prison.
Black and New Afrikan Political Prisoners Black and New Afrikan Political Prisoners
Date: 11/29/1991Call Number: PM 251Format: CassetteProducers: Prison RadioProgram: You Can’t Jail The Spirit #3Collection: New Afrikan Prisoners
About the Black political repression, exile, incarceration, and the criminal justice system's interference with political resistance through a discussion of the lives of Mumia Abu Jamal, Assata Shakur, and Geronimo Pratt. Soffiyah Elijah, Dr. Mutulu Shakur, and Kiilu Nyasha, discuss the criminalization of revolutionaries and the future of radical organizing.
UCSC Afternoon UCSC Afternoon
Date: 1/1/1111Call Number: PM 277Format: Cass A & BCollection: Death penalty
A conference at UC Santa Cruz includes talks by Prof. Craig Haney on prison conditions and the death penalty and by Judy Greenspan of the California Coalition for Women Prisoners. Also holds a workshop addressing women in prison, prison and industry, the death penalty and race.
Conditions and Violence in Prisons Conditions and Violence in Prisons
Date: 10/21/1996Call Number: PM 276Format: Cass A & BProducers: Prison Activist Resource CenterProgram: On the OutsideCollection: Violence in Prison
Karen Shain of the California Coalition for Women Prisoners, Jean Stewart, founder of the Disabled Prisoners' Justice Fund, as well as Catherine Campbell, on the violence in Corcoran prison. Also discusses Herman Bell and the NY3.