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

[Request for Donations] [Request for Donations]
Author: Julie StarobinPublisher: Out of Control: Lesbian Committee to Support Women Political PrisonersYear: 1988Format: CorrespondenceCollection: Out of Control: Lesbian Committee to Support Women Prisoners
Reproduction of 3/15/1988 open letter requesting donations to help with advertising.
Correspondence packet between ABC News and US Department of Justice Correspondence packet between ABC News and US Department of Justice
Authors: Danny Schechter, J. Michael Quinlan, Robert WrightPublisher: ABC News; US Department of JusticeYear: 1988Format: CorrespondenceCollection: Committee to End the Marion Lockdown
Reproduction of 3 letters regarding ABC News program: ABC News: 20/20: "America's Toughest Prison"; "Much Ado About Nothing?"; "From Paris to Peoria".
Letter to Friends Letter to Friends
Publisher: Committee to End the Marion LockdownYear: 1988Format: CorrespondenceCollection: Committee to End the Marion Lockdown
3/15/1988 correspondence regarding launching campaign to abolish control units.
Letter to Friends Letter to Friends
Publisher: Committee to End the Marion LockdownYear: 1988Format: CorrespondenceCollection: Committee to End the Marion Lockdown
Letter informing members of CEML activities. Request for petition to Michael Quinlan.
Letter to Friends Letter to Friends
Publisher: Committee to End the Marion LockdownYear: 1988Format: CorrespondenceCollection: Committee to End the Marion Lockdown
Regarding 87 conference transcript.
Correspondence from Nancy Kurshan to CEML Correspondence from Nancy Kurshan to CEML
Author: Nancy KurshanPublisher: Committee to End the Marion LockdownYear: 1988Format: CorrespondenceCollection: Committee to End the Marion Lockdown
Regarding the Detroit/Ann Arbor/Lansing trip.
No More Poison Water at Marion! No More Poison Water at Marion!
Publisher: Committee to End the Marion LockdownYear: 1988Format: CorrespondenceCollection: Committee to End the Marion Lockdown
Petition to Michael Quinlan and John Clark of the BOP to end the contaminated drinking water supply.
Letter to "Sisters and Brothers, Inside and Out" Letter to "Sisters and Brothers, Inside and Out"
Author: The interim Coordinating BodyPublisher: National Campaign c/o Movement Support NetworkYear: 1988Format: CorrespondenceCollection: HRC: Human Rights Campaign
Letter to Julio Rosado, Kathy Wilkerson Letter to Julio Rosado, Kathy Wilkerson
Author: Edward A. MeadPublisher: Washington State reformatoryYear: 1988Format: CorrespondenceCollection: HRC: Human Rights Campaign
Letter to National Lexington Campaign Re: National Political Prisoner/POW campaign. Post-it note with "PS: Copies of this were sent to Gloria Alanzo and Josefina Rodriguez"