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

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.
Interview with Jim Gonzalez Interview with Jim Gonzalez
Date: 10/24/1989Call Number: CV 040AFormat: Cass AProducers: Chuy VarelaProgram: KPFACollection: Chuy Varela Collection
Interview with Jim Gonzalez on issues concerning the Latino community such as the grape boycott, INS raids, immigration rights, affordable housing in San Francisco, sponsorship for Latino community events and police brutality, specifically the beating of Dolores Huerta.
Prop. 187 Protest 11/9/1994 taped by Sammy Leigh Webster Prop. 187 Protest 11/9/1994 taped by Sammy Leigh Webster
Date: 11/9/1994Call Number: CV 320AFormat: Cass ACollection: Chuy Varela Collection
Interviews with protesters during a march in San Francisco against the passing of California Proposition 187. Gauging their reactions to the proposition, which would have required those who seek social services to have their immigration statuses verified. With this proposition the state hoped that without social services, undocumented people would leave California.