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

New York Three Freedom Campaign West Coast Committee Dear Friend New York Three Freedom Campaign West Coast Committee Dear Friend
Publisher: New York Three Freedom Campaign West Coast CommitteeFormat: CorrespondenceCollection: New York 3
Letter soliciting support for the NY3
Greetings Comrades, Brother and Sisters Greetings Comrades, Brother and Sisters
Publisher: Fela & NazapaFormat: CorrespondenceCollection: New York 3
Letter to Brothers and Sisters in Struggle [with enclosures] Letter to Brothers and Sisters in Struggle [with enclosures]
Publisher: Black Panther Newspaper CommitteeYear: 1990Format: CorrespondenceCollection: Black Panther Party Community News Service
Announcement for the Black Panther, Black Community News Service: Memorial Issue. Includes explanation of purpose and front page of issue.
New York Three Freedom Campaign Dear Friend New York Three Freedom Campaign Dear Friend
Publisher: New York Three Freedom CampaignFormat: CorrespondenceCollection: New York 3
Letter soliciting contributions for the NY3
Dear Friends Dear Friends
Publisher: John Brown Anti-Klan CommitteeFormat: CorrespondenceCollection: John Brown Anti-Klan Committee (JBAKC)
white paepr
The New York Four The New York Four
Publisher: New York Four Defense CommitteeFormat: CorrespondenceCollection: New York 3
Letters to inform people about the case of the New York 4 and what they can do to help.
Letter re parole of David Hilliard Letter re parole of David Hilliard
Publisher: Garry, Dreyfus, McTernan & BrotskyDate: 9/15/1972Volume Number: Sept 15Format: CorrespondenceCollection: BPP_NoCal
Letter to CA Adult Authority to parole David Hilliard, Chief of Staff of Black Panther Party.
Elsa Knight Thompson Letter in response to Cyrill Abels Elsa Knight Thompson Letter in response to Cyrill Abels
Author: Elsa Knight ThompsonPublisher: KPFADate: 3/24/1969Volume Number: 24-MarFormat: CorrespondenceCollection: Cleaver, Eldridge
Letter in response to Cyrill Abels re: Eldridge Cleaver having rights to talk he gave on KPFA re: Bobby Hutton shooting, and correspondence leading up to this KPFA clarification letter.
Plea for Support in the Release of Eldridge Cleaver Plea for Support in the Release of Eldridge Cleaver
Publisher: International Committee to Release Eldridge CleaverFormat: CorrespondenceCollection: Cleaver, Eldridge
Letter to Elsa Knight Thompson asking for her support in effort to release Eldridge Cleaver; organization's "Bay Area Co-Chairmen" include James Baldwin, Ossie Davis, Dr. Carlton Goodlett.
Huey Says Panthers are Not Parties to Extortion Huey Says Panthers are Not Parties to Extortion
Author: Huey NewtonPublisher: The Black Panther PartyDate: 2/14/1974Volume Number: 14-FebFormat: CorrespondenceCollection: Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA)
A letter from Huey P. Newton of the Black Panther Party to Mr. and Mrs. Randolph Hearst. The letter volunteers the Black Panthers to distribute the food as part of the bargain from the SLA to return Patricia Hearst to her family.