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: 3/14/1985Call Number: JH 188Format: CassetteProducers: Jorge HerreraProgram: Pajaro LatinoCollection: “Pajaro Latino” Programs produced by Jorge Herrera
Members of AMNLAE (Associacion de Mujeres Nicaraguenses Luisa Amanda Espinoza - the women's organization of the Sandinista revolution) discuss contra abuses in an event at the SF Women's Building. CHRICA (Committee for Health Rights in Central America) protest at San Francisco CIA office against contra kidnapping of health workers in Nicaragua. Ray Hooker, a Nicaraguan educator and a member of the Nicaraguan National Assembly from the country's Atlantic Coast, speaks in San Francisco against US aid to the contras. Hooker was captured by the contras and held for 40 days. Report on El Salvador FMLN guerrilla forces. Report from FMLN Radio Venceremos on labor abuses, including mass firings of workers, and workers' protests.
Pajaro Latino Pajaro Latino
Date: 11/7/1985Call Number: JH 210Format: CassetteProducers: Jorge HerreraCollection: “Pajaro Latino” Programs produced by Jorge Herrera
Nora Roman informe de CHRICA, Committee for Health rights in Central America
Naval Weapons Naval Weapons
Date: 3/5/1987Call Number: V 184Format: VHSCollection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
This tape contains footage of a demonstration against the US war on Nicaragua. The tape also appears to contain sabotage of a railroad track.
Steps to Freedom--Presidio Army Base Steps to Freedom--Presidio Army Base
Date: 10/15/1988Call Number: V 187Format: VHSCollection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
This video contains footage of a demonstration at the Presidio Army Base in San Francisco against the US war on Central America. Protesters sit in the street and attempt to build a barricade and are arrested by SFPD.
Poetry reading by Ernesto Cardenal Poetry reading by Ernesto Cardenal
Call Number: LA 113BFormat: Cass BCollection: Nicaragua
Poetry reading followed by a short question and answer dialogue from Father Ernesto Cardenal of Nicaragua. Poems, including "The Big Bang", "Wall and Water Street" and other pieces, are read in Spanish with English translation. Cardenal is known as one of the greatest living Latin American poets today. He wrote during the Samoza dictatorship and the Sandanista overthrow of Samoza in 1979. Through his poems, Cardenal brings together science and poetry, science and mysticism, mysticism and revolution, and poetry and politics. He speaks out against oppression and searches to preserve the unity of creation through spiritual insight. In a short question and answer period at the end of the reading, Cardenal discusses how Nicaraguan culture and revolution are entertwined and how poetry is an expression of the revolution. Cardenal also talks about his priesthood as a lifelong commitment and of poetry as a religious practice.
Interview with Luis Godoy Interview with Luis Godoy
Call Number: LA 115Format: CassetteCollection: Nicaragua
1989 interview with Nicaraguan revolutionary musician, Luis Godoy. Godoy was born in 1945 during the Samoza dictatorship. He speaks about the responsibility of an artist to send an important message and raise the consciousness of the people. Godoy then explained that from a very young age he realized that he could express the injustices of Nicaragua through songs, "I realized that my music could be used as a social tool". Throughout the interview, Godoy discusses those who have influenced his music, his involvement with past bands, and his visions for the future in both his musical career and for his country.
After the Earthquake/ Después del Terremoto After the Earthquake/ Después del Terremoto
Date: 1/1/1979Call Number: CD 513Format: DVDProducers: Lourdes Portillo, Nina SerranoCollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
The story of Central American immigrants and exiles is set in San Francisco California's barrio. A young woman, Irene, faces adjustment and survival working as a house cleaner. Her former boyfriend, Julio, suddenly reappears in her life. Julio is now an exiled, recently released, political prisoner. Irene must confront the cultural changes in her life to redefine their relationship.
International Women's Day demonstration San Francisco 1985 International Women's Day demonstration San Francisco 1985
Date: 3/8/1985Call Number: KP 282AFormat: Cass AProducers: Katherine DavenportProgram: KPFACollection: General materials
International Women's Day in SF, with the theme of solidarity with Central America and opposition to further CIA involvement. Includes: street sounds, interviews of women in the streets, and the speaker reading the signs.