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

El Salvador in Focus El Salvador in Focus
Date: 11/4/1989Call Number: LA 110Format: CassetteProgram: El Salvador in FocusCollection: El Salvador
On October 31, 1989 a bomb explodes in the National Federation of Salvadoran workers (FINASTRAS) headquarters killing 12 people. The military had recently named human rights organizations and labor unions as front groups for the FMLN. The labor unions hold the military responsible for the bombing. Earlier the same morning a bomb exploded in the building of the Mothers of the Disappeared and Assassinated. The Salvadoran Government, with the aid of U.S. tax dollars, is violently and openly targeting dissenters. This tape also contains exerts of an interview with Robert Dabuson, Arena Party President for Life. Dabuson was named in an unpublished U.S. embassy report as the mastermind behind the assassination of Archbishop Oscer Romero in 1980. Also, 1600 refugees are allowed to return from Honduras to their native villages in El Salvador.
El Salvador in Focus El Salvador in Focus
Date: 10/1/1989Call Number: LA 111Format: CassetteProgram: El Salvador in FocusCollection: El Salvador
Arena Government escalates repression targeting civilians as well as the FMLN. Aerial bombings and ground troop attacks on villages increase in frequency and severity. The FMLN lift their voluntary cease fire in response to the government and military violence. On September 18 the National trade Union of Salvadoran Workers (FINASTRAS) held a protest march in San Salvador demanding the release of union organizers in government custody. Police attacked the protesters with tear gas and beatings. Those arrested reported being tortured. Eight women reported being raped by the police in jail. Meanwhile, In Washington D.C. The U.S. Senate votes overwhelmingly to increase military aid to El Salvador.