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

Campanile Action Campanile Action
Date: 5/17/1989Call Number: V 495Format: Hi-8Producers: Lisa RudmanCollection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
Bay Area Pledge of Resistance drops banner at Campanile Tower on UC Berkeley's campus. Interviewees seek to draw attention to the UC System's stake in the US intervention in El Salvador, exposing that the ROTC at UC Berkeley helps train the Death Squads in El Salvador.
Coit Tower Action Coit Tower Action
Date: 5/15/1989Call Number: V 496Format: Hi-8Producers: Lisa RudmanCollection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
Bay Area Pledge of Resistance occupies Coit Tower and unfurls banner in order to draw attention to the election of the ARENA party in El Salvador, the party which organized the death squads that killed thousands of El Salvadorians. Members of Pledge are carrying out this action to do the work the mass media doesn't in their coverage of El Salvador.
Golden Gate Bridge Action Golden Gate Bridge Action
Date: 1/31/1989Call Number: V 505Format: Hi-8Producers: Lisa RudmanCollection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
Stop AIDS Now or Else - SANOE’s first direct action protest blocks morning rush hour traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge disrupting business as usual. Protesters call for increased action as opposed to increased work with AIDS service organizations criticizing that little beyond care work is being done. When asked if any of the activists have AIDS a protester retorts, “We are all living with AIDS.” Most of the demonstrators are arrested and charged with being a public nuisance and trespassing. Some stalled motorists agree with SANOE tactics to bring attention to the AIDS/HIV pandemic.
Anti-Nazi Protest – John Brown Anti-Klan Committee Anti-Nazi Protest – John Brown Anti-Klan Committee
Date: 4/2/1989Call Number: V 511Format: Hi-8Producers: Lisa RudmanCollection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
An anti-Nazi and anti-Skinhead march through Napa to protest the growth of both Northern Californian groups. Other groups include ACT UP/SF, Rainbow Coalition, Women Against Racism, Rock Against Racism, Napans Against Prejudice, Women Against Imperialism, and CISPES. A heavy police presence leads the demonstrators to call for the police to point their weapons at the Nazi and Skinhead supporters and not at the anti-nazi protesters. A forum held by the JBAKC a month after the Napa protest recounts the history of the United Racist Front and the stake the government has in protecting and nourishing fascist groups like the KKK. Discusses the new movement of anti-nazi and anti-racist skinhead groups like Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice and Skinheads for Racial Unity. Speakers call for the development of a coalition of Anti-racist groups on the left.
ACT UP Anti-Inaugural Demonstration ACT UP Anti-Inaugural Demonstration
Date: 1/20/1989Call Number: V 567Format: Hi-8Producers: Lisa RudmanCollection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
Protesters perform guerrilla theater outside the San Francisco stock exchange in response to the inauguration of George H. Bush. They mock Bush and his wife Barbara and perform an educational game show that acts out the inaccessibility to AIDS/HIV drug treatments.