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

Before Stonewall: The making of a Gay and Lesbian Community Before Stonewall: The making of a Gay and Lesbian Community
Date: 1/1/1985Call Number: V 318Format: DVDProducers: Greta SchillerCollection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
New York City's Stonewall Inn is regarded as the site of gay and lesbian liberation since it was at this bar that drag queens fought back against police June 27-28, 1969. This documentary uses extensive archival film, movie clips and personal recollections to construct an audiovisual history of the gay community before the Stonewall riots.
After Stonewall: A Quarter Century of Lesbian and Gay Activism After Stonewall: A Quarter Century of Lesbian and Gay Activism
Date: 1/1/1999Call Number: V 319Format: DVDProducers: John ScagliottiCollection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
Sequel to Before Stonewall. In the middle of the rejuvenated concentration on the hostile response toward gay visibility, the documentary looks at how far the gay community has come and at the elimination of homosexuality from the list of mental illnesses. Also recognizes that not that everything was revolutionized across the board. Melissa Etheridge narrated documentary deals with a period in history through individual memories and personal interviews including issues like Anita Bryant, Harvey Milk, AIDS, and the betrayal that was "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."