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

NPR Report on Lexington Control Unit NPR Report on Lexington Control Unit
Date: 10/1/1986Call Number: PM 430Format: CassetteProducers: National Public RadioCollection: Committee to End the Marion Lockdown
Jacki Lyden reports on the lawsuit challenging the placement of Susan Rosenberg, Alejandrina Torres and Silvia Beraldini in the Lexington control unit, which resulted in Lexington's closure.
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.
[File of materials from Yasutake delegation to D.C.] [File of materials from Yasutake delegation to D.C.]
Authors: Vicki Legion, S. Michael YasutakePublisher: Interfaith Prisoners of Conscience; Committee to End the Marion Lockdown; American Civil Liberties UnionYear: 1990Format: CompilationCollection: Committee to End the Marion Lockdown
File of collected materials pertaining to the Interfaith Prisoners of Conscience delegation to the Bureau of Prisons. Enclosures: Cover Page: Note to Steve Whitman from Vicki Legion; 4/19/1990 Letter to Dir. J. Michael Quinlan from Rev. S. Michael Yasutake; 5/1/1990 Press Release; 5/4/1990 Statement for Rally re: Federal Penitentiary Marion, Illinois; 5/4/1990 Letter to Dir. J. Michael Quinlan from Rev. S. Michael Yasutake; 5/18/1990 A Report on the Visit to the Bureau of Prisons and the DC Detention Center; 5/17/1990 Letter to Dir. J. Michael Quinlan from Rev. S. Michael Yasutake; Flewellen, Fine, Yasutake at Congressmen Kastenmeier's office (Graphic); Thornell and Flewellen delivering petitions to BOP; Photograph by D'Auteuil Robideau.
Control Units: An Opressive New Order in US Prisons Control Units: An Opressive New Order in US Prisons
Author: Nancy KershanPublisher: Committee to End the Marion LockdownFormat: ArticleCollection: Control Units
Reproduction