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

Interviews with Puerto Rican former political prisoners and their lawyer Interviews with Puerto Rican former political prisoners and their lawyer
Date: 1/30/2003Call Number: V 143Format: VHSProducers: nyla rosen, hana tauber, jose ignacio fuste, marcos garofaloCollection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
First 20 minutes: Edited and subtitled (both English and Spanish) interviews on the connection between the release of the prisoners and the Puerto Rican Independence Movement. First footage of a march for peace for Vieques; then former political prisoner Dylcia Pagan talks about the connection between Vieques and PR Independence and the prisoners’ release; lawyer Jan Susler talks about fear and action; former political prisoner Jose Solis Jordan talks about solidarity, love, formal and informal/social/internal prison, the academy/university, and freedom; former political prisoner Elizam Escobar talks about art and liberation. Next 40 minutes: Roughly edited clips from interviews with these Independence fighters, as well as with Luis Rosa and Adolfo Matos. In English and Spanish, Not subtitled. To use these or other clips, see full interviews -- V 135 through V 142.
Sparks Fly: Women political prisoners Sparks Fly: Women political prisoners
Date: 11/1/1996Call Number: V 392Format: VHSCollection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
Audio messages from women political prisoners on the occasion of the 7th annual Sparks Fly event organized to commemorate the day of international solidarity with women political prisoners.
Conversation about Puerto Rican independence Conversation about Puerto Rican independence
Call Number: V 395Format: VHSCollection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
Dylcia Pagan, Jan Susler, José Solís Jordán and Elizam Escobar, all involved in the struggle for Puerto Rico’s independence, discuss the commitment and passion with which they embrace their cause. They also point out the need for people to fight for their ideals in order to not become accomplices of the system they oppose.
Puerto Rican women prisoners of war Puerto Rican women prisoners of war
Call Number: V 398Format: VHSProducers: Lisa RudmanCollection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
Dylcia Pagan, Carmen Valentín, Ida Luz Rodríguez, and Haydée Beltrán Torres, describe becoming Puerto Rican activists. They also discuss their experience as political prisoners and their continuing struggle as prisoners of war resisting the illegal occupation of their homeland by the US. Edited version of V199-V204
The Double Life of Ernesto Gomez Gomez The Double Life of Ernesto Gomez Gomez
Date: 7/27/1989Call Number: V 490Format: VHSProducers: Catherine Ryan, Gary WeimbergCollection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
Traces the life of Ernesto Gomez Gomez/ Guillermo Morales, the son of FALN Prisoner of War Dylcia Pagan and exiled Puerto Rican independentista William Guillermo Morales. Guillermo’s early life with the Gomez Gomez family and the subsequent discovery of who his biological parents are and why they were in prison fighting for Puerto Rico’s independence lead him on a journey to reconnect with Dylcia while she was incarcerated in California. Dylcia recounts her history with the FALN, her charge of “seditious conspiracy,” and her life underground with Guillermo when he was a baby. Guillermo and Dylcia are interviewed extensively about the emotional ride that their reunion brings both of them.