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.

Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials

Documents

Du Zaire Au Congo Du Zaire Au Congo
Call Number: V 154Format: Mini DVProducers: Christian MesnilCollection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
Part 1 of 2. SAME AS V153 Continued in V215 This documentary by Christian Mesnil chronicles Congo's struggle for independence from the racist colonial rule of King Leopold's Belgium. Using archival pictures and footage, as well as poetry and music, this documentary covers the colonial occupation of the Congo from 1885 to the declaration of independence in 1960 as well as the subsequent postcolonial struggle. Much emphasis is placed on the political life of Patrice Lumumba (1925-1961) and included are statements and speeches spanning from his organizing work with the Mouvement National Congolais to his inagueration as Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This film is in French with no subtitles. B&W.
Du Zaire Au Congo Du Zaire Au Congo
Call Number: V 215Format: Mini DVProducers: Christian MesnilCollection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
Part 2 of 2. This documentary by Christian Mesnil chronicles Congo's struggle for independence from the racist colonial rule of King Leopold's Belgium. Using archival pictures and footage, as well as poetry and music, this documentary covers the colonial occupation of the Congo from 1885 to the declaration of independence in 1960 as well as the subsequent postcolonial struggle. Much emphasis is placed on the political life of Patrice Lumumba (1925-1961) and included are statements and speeches spanning from his organizing work with the Mouvement National Congolais to his inagueration as Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This film is in French with no subtitles. B&W.
Du Zaire Au Congo Du Zaire Au Congo
Call Number: V 291Format: UmaticProducers: Christian MesnilCollection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
Part 2 of 2. This documentary by Christian Mesnil chronicles Congo's struggle for independence from the racist colonial rule of King Leopold's Belgium. Using archival pictures and footage, as well as poetry and music, this documentary covers the colonial occupation of the Congo from 1885 to the declaration of independence in 1960 as well as the subsequent postcolonial struggle. Much emphasis is placed on the political life of Patrice Lumumba (1925-1961) and included are statements and speeches spanning from his organizing work with the Mouvement National Congolais to his inagueration as Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This film is in French with no subtitles. B&W.