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

Report fcor CEML and National on Emergency Response Network Regarding Hunger Strike at Wabash Valley Prison, Indiana Report fcor CEML and National on Emergency Response Network Regarding Hunger Strike at Wabash Valley Prison, Indiana
Author: Charled CarneyPublisher: Committee to End the Marion LockdownYear: 1997Format: ReportCollection: Committee to End the Marion Lockdown
Reprot on the Emergency Response Activated Around Marion by the National Campaign to Stop Control Unit Prisons Reprot on the Emergency Response Activated Around Marion by the National Campaign to Stop Control Unit Prisons
Author: Nancy KurshanPublisher: National Campaign to Stop Control Unit PrisonsYear: 1997Format: ReportCollection: Committee to End the Marion Lockdown
Cold Storage: Super-Maximum Confinement in Indiana Cold Storage: Super-Maximum Confinement in Indiana
Publisher: Human Rights Watch.Year: 1997Format: ReportCollection: Committee to End the Marion Lockdown
Human Rights Watch report on Human Rights Violations. Includes: Introduction; Summary and Recommendations; The Development of Super-Maximum Security Confinement in Indiana; The Physical Environment; The Inmate Population; A Day in the Life; Security, Force, Harassment, and Abuse; Psychological Impact of Conditions; Release from the MCF and the SHU.
The Use of Control Unit Prisons in the United States: Interim Report The Use of Control Unit Prisons in the United States: Interim Report
Publisher: The Monitoring Project of the National Campaign to Stop control unit PrisonsYear: 1997Format: ReportCollection: American Friends Service Committee
Information on the proliferation of control unit prisons in the US prison system. Includes: General information; Conditions of Confinement; Placement and Exit criteria for all control unit type facilities.