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

Chasky Quilt Chasky Quilt
Date: 10/1/1991Call Number: V 527Format: Hi-8Producers: Lisa RudmanCollection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
Close up shots of quilt made for International Women's Day to honor 500 years of resistance through women's eyes. Panels on quilt commemorate North American indigenous struggle, the end of US occupations across the globe, and the release of all political prisoners and prisoners of war.
Chasky Quilt - 500 years of resistance Chasky Quilt - 500 years of resistance
Date: 10/12/1991Call Number: V 528Format: Hi-8Producers: Lisa RudmanCollection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
The quilt is displayed at International Women's Day march. The progressive women of color drum performance group Sistah Boom also performs.
A Defiant Heart: International Women's Day 1996 A Defiant Heart: International Women's Day 1996
Date: 3/1/1996Call Number: JG/ 157AFormat: Cass AProducers: Judy GerberProgram: A Defiant HeartCollection: Programs produced by Judy Gerber and Laurie Simms
A Defiant Heart’s International Women’s Day Show (March 1, 1996). Judy Gerber and Judy Siff read poetry dedicated to Mumia Abu Jamal and Assata Shakur written by various political prisoners including Kathy Boudin, Laura Whitehorn, Marylin Buck, and Tim Blunk.
International Women's Day 1988 Pleasanton Federal Prison Demonstration Coverage International Women's Day 1988 Pleasanton Federal Prison Demonstration Coverage
Call Number: KP 527AFormat: Cass ACollection: General materials
Radio coverage by KPFA, KCBS of Pleasanton Federal Prison demonstration against the treatment of female prisoners, and the relocation of female prisoners from Pleasanton to the East Coast. Includes statements from demonstrator.
Bernardine Dorhn Bernardine Dorhn
Publisher: Weather Underground OrganizationFormat: mp3Collection: Weather Underground Organization
Sent on international Women's Day, 1975 by the Weather Underground, this includes a statement by Bernardine Dohrn and a poem to Assata Shakur by Kathy Boudin, who is herself now a political prisoner. the audio quality reflects the less than ideal recording conditions, but the message comes through.
Dragon Dragon
Publisher: Bay Area Research CollectiveYear: 1975Volume Number: No. 4 NovemberFormat: PeriodicalCollection: The Dragon
Table of Contents: Introduction, Letter from Emily Harris, October 27, 1975, Lolita Lebron and Blanca Canales, Susan Saze Statement, June 9, 1975, On Being Underground -- Katherine Power and Susan Saxe, Colation Against Psychiatric Assault: Demonstration, A Collective Letter to the Women's Movement from the Women of the Weather Underground, WUO Women's Brigade bombs Dept of H.E.W., March 1974, Poem, Statement from Sisters of the Symbionese Liberation Army, October 21, 1975, Militant Women: a Brief History, Open Letter to the Fighting Forces, Puerto Rican Solidarity, New World Liberation Front Communique: Fort Ord