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

Vieques: Paradise lost? Vieques: Paradise lost?
Film about the lasting effects of many decades of US bombing of Vieques on the ongoing health of the residents. VIEQUES: THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES The suffering in Vieques continues. The Navy's departure from Vieques did not solve the health crisis and environmental destruction it left behind in Vieques. If the Navy thinks they can skirt their responsibility toward the people of Vieques and the damage the Navy caused simply by leaving the island, the Navy is wrong. Science reveals intensive contamination in the food and in the environment in Vieques. The people are dying of cancer, diabetes, hypertension and a host of other diseases. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus has demanded that the Secretary of the Navy help the people of Vieques with their health claims against the Navy. Many others see this as a matter of Hispanic respect citing the way the US citizens of Vieques have been treated versus the way mainland populations have been treated. To many, the treatment of Vieques by the Navy simply smacks of arrogance and environmental racism. Several Members of Congress have publicly supported the health claims by the people of Vieques. At the same time, Democratic presidential candidates are poised to make this an issue in states where Bush needs some of the Hispanic vote. The 15 minute video VIEQUES PARADISE LOST details the tragedy that continues in Vieques.