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

Pajaro Latino Pajaro Latino
Date: 7/21/1990Call Number: JH 307BFormat: Cass BProducers: Jorge HerreraCollection: “Pajaro Latino” Programs produced by Jorge Herrera
Leonor Huper, Brian Wilson, John Burton
Focus on the Americas “Republicrats” with Blase Bonpane, Ph.D. Focus on the Americas “Republicrats” with Blase Bonpane, Ph.D.
Call Number: JG/ 080BFormat: Cass BProducers: Judy GerberCollection: Programs produced by Judy Gerber and Laurie Simms
Bonpane discusses many topics of the day (recorded October 1990). 1. Sen. Pete Wilson refuses to see him and representatives of Salvadorian community regarding House Resolution #5114 and the Casden-Graham provision. 2. Brian Wilson, who lost his legs trying to stop a munitions shipment to El Salvador, informs of a peace delegation underway to Iraq. 3. Bonpane reads open letter from Mennonites to the people of Iraq. 4. Responds to Democratic National Committee Chair Ron Brown's statement regarding Democratic support for war in Iraq. 5. Informs of 10-day Human Rights delegation to Mexico. 6. Informs of Reverend Father Ernesto Cardenal Martínez's upcoming visit to Los Angeles. 7. Bonpane reads a letter from Jeffrey Patterson who refused to serve in the military action in Iraq.
Brian Wilson Train Incident Brian Wilson Train Incident
Date: 9/1/1987Call Number: V 189Collection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
WARNING!! THIS TAPE CONTAINS GRUESOME IMAGERY!! This video contains footage of the Brian Wilson Incident. On September 1, 1987, nonviolent activists, primarily from the religious community and Veterans For Peace, gathered at the Concord Naval Weapons Station to announce the commencement of a fast and to attempt to block a train shipment of arms headed for Central America. The train, which was notified of their presence does not stop and runs over activist Brian Wilson. It was later determined that the train was ordered not stop. Brian Wilson survived the incident, suffering the loss of his legs and severe skull fracture. He continues his antiwar activism. This video contains gruesome imagery of the incident and its immediate aftermath.