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.

Freedom Archives Productions

These materials were used in various Freedom Archives productions released between 2000 and 2013.

Subcollections

Documents

Lexington Female High Security Unit Lexington Female High Security Unit
Call Number: CD 740Format: DVDCollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
News clips and short interviews with women at Lexington Control Unit prison - Susan Rosenberg, Silvia Baraldini, Alejandrina Torres.
War on America- The Puerto Rican Independence Movement War on America- The Puerto Rican Independence Movement
Call Number: C 10 042Format: Mini DVCollection: COINTELPRO 101 Raw Materials
Documentary about the Puerto Rican Independence Movement & the FALN, the Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional (Armed Forces of National Liberation) of Puerto Rico.
Presos por la libertad- The FALN Presos por la libertad- The FALN
Call Number: C 10 044Format: Mini DVCollection: COINTELPRO 101 Raw Materials
About the FALN of Puerto Rico, its history and status with Edwin Cortez in USP Lewisburg, Alejandrina Torres in FCI Danbury, Lisa Torres and Peope's Law Office attorney Jan Susler in Chicago, and politicians.
Lexington Prison Interviews 1987 Lexington Prison Interviews 1987
Date: 5/1/1987Call Number: CD 779Format: CDProducers: Judy GerberCollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
Alejandrina Torres, Silvia Baraldini, and Susan Rosenberg describe their living conditions at the control unit of the federal women’s prison in Lexington which opened in 1986. The interviews stress the importance of public pressure to have the unit closed.
NPR Report on Lexington Control Unit NPR Report on Lexington Control Unit
Date: 10/1/1986Call Number: CD 819Format: CassetteProducers: National Public RadioCollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
Jacki Lyden reports on the lawsuit challenging the placement of Susan Rosenberg, Alejandrina Torres and Sylvia Beraldini in the Lexington control unit, which resulted in Lexington's closure.
Women in the US Prison System Women in the US Prison System
Call Number: CD 800Format: CDProducers: KPFAProgram: KPFACollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
A news segment, then a discussion of the treatment of women in US prisons. Covered in depth are the women in FCI Dublin and Alejandrina Torres in the Lexington Control Unit - a facility which used sensory deprivation and other experimental methods of psychological torture on prisoners.