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

PFOC--Press Conference (Prairie Fire) PFOC--Press Conference (Prairie Fire)
Date: 11/21/1977Call Number: PM 259AFormat: Cass ACollection: LA Five
In response to the recent arrests of five revolutionaries in Houston and LA, the PFOC held a press conference in defense of their main captured member Clayton Van Lidograph. In the statement, the Prairie Fire Organizing Committee explains their main objectives of solidarity with oppressed women, Chicanos, Puerto Ricans, and exploited third world cultures. By any means of revolution, the PFOC will fight against the imperialist government. Just like the unfair legal charges put upon past radicals, their PFOC member and others were arrested and were being charged of terrorism and conspiracy. They explain that these charges are frame-ups and the true terrorists are the government, KKK, and other extreme right-wing organizations. In the media, the PFOC were originally grouped with the Weather Underground. However, this organization does not side with the Weather Underground and their politics. After the statement, reporters badger them with somewhat unanswerable questions.
Prairie Fire Organizing Committee (PFOC) Press Statement & Conference Prairie Fire Organizing Committee (PFOC) Press Statement & Conference
Date: 3/23/1978Call Number: PM 273Format: CassetteCollection: LA Five
Leslie Mullin and Judith Bissell, as part of the LA Five arrested for conspiracy to bomb the offices of Senator John Briggs, give a telephone interview from prison. They describe D.A. Jorgenson's strategy of "railroading" the trial date leaving them little time to prepare a defense. They talk of the government's fear of the exposure of FBI misconduct and COINTELPRO during the trial, and the inadequacy of prison law research facilities for women prisoners as compared to those in the men's system. PFOC press conference calling attention to the LA Five case and point to the similarities of illegal government tactics used against other anti-imperialist groups.
LA5 Defense Update LA5 Defense Update
Publisher: PFOCFormat: MonographCollection: LA Five
Update on the defense case of the LA Five. Includes a focus on Weathfug/RAIPE Programs that entrapped the LA Five.
Free the L.A. Five! Free the L.A. Five!
Publisher: PFOCYear: 1978Format: MonographCollection: LA Five
Contents include: Who are the LA 5?; The US State and the LA 5- the Campaign Against Terrorism; and Why we support the LA 5.