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.

Independent Collections

These collections were produced by independent journalists. Many of these recordings make up the bulk of the original collection of the Freedom Archives.

Subcollections

Documents

American Deserter Committee: An Interview with Three American Deserters of War - Lou Simon, Mike Powers, and Jerry Condon American Deserter Committee: An Interview with Three American Deserters of War - Lou Simon, Mike Powers, and Jerry Condon
Date: 9/27/1971Call Number: CE 490Format: Cass A & BProducers: Colin EdwardsCollection: Colin Edwards Collection
Lou Simon, Mike Powers, and Jerry Condon, members of the American Deserter Committee (ADC), each discuss their decision to flee from serving in Vietnam War, how they came to make the decision, and how they feel about the decision based on their present life in Sweden. Before deserting, Simon went through basic training, Condon went to university for a year, studying to be a special forces medic, and Powers was socially active, and never registered for the draft. Each gives their philosophy and moral viewpoint and how it’s developed. Topics discussed: The effects of Communism, the Japanese antiwar movement, Sweden’s policies on deserters, the Springfield 3, political persecution in the US, international law, and housing programs for deserters. Cuts out (only seconds of time) not particularly bothersome or detrimental to the coherence of the material.
Interview with Steven Wentworth; An Interview with Three American Deserters of War - Lou Simon, Mike Powers, and Jerry Condon PART II Interview with Steven Wentworth; An Interview with Three American Deserters of War - Lou Simon, Mike Powers, and Jerry Condon PART II
Date: 9/27/1971Call Number: CE 491Format: Cass A & BProducers: Colin EdwardsCollection: Colin Edwards Collection
Side A: Steve Wentworth refused induction and deserted to Sweden. Discusses how and why, and what it was like once he arrived. Topics include: distinction between draft resistors and those who left the armed forces, language barriers, aid to deserters, Swedish student anti-war demonstrations, Sweden’s recognition of NLF, drugs linked to American deserters, and how deserters are perceived as a strain on Swedish/American business relations. Cuts in/out a bit. Side B: Continuation of CE 490: American Deserter Committee: An Interview with Three American Deserters of War - Lou Simon, Mike Powers, and Jerry Condon. Topics include: US isolated due to Vietnam, popularity of George Jackson, European sympathies to deserters, how deserters are treated in various countries, relationships with family after desertion, history of American Deserters Committee, which represents a refusal to take part in atrocity.