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

Real Dragon Real Dragon
Date: 6/30/1973Call Number: RD 049Format: 1/4 7 1/2 ipsProducers: Claude Marks, Lincoln BergmanProgram: Real DragonCollection: “The Real Dragon” a news magazine including music and poetry
Narratives (read by others) of members of the San Quentin Six, including childhoods, evolutions of political consciousness, resistance, and prison struggle
Prisons, Drugs and Students Prisons, Drugs and Students
Date: 1/13/1973Call Number: RP 059 R1Format: Reel 1Producers: Emiliano Echeverria, Nina Serrano, Diana Gillespie, Lillian del Sol, Tim del Dol, Daniel del SolarCollection: Reflecciones de la Raza by Comunicacion Aztlan
Reflecciones covers the community with poetry from the prison, an interview about methadone Maintenance programs and their impact on addicts, and an interview about the situation with the university students in Mexico City and Puebla.
Attica Attica
Date: 1/1/1973Call Number: V 033Format: VHSProducers: Cinda FirestoneCollection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
Archival footage, photographs and interviews from Attica prison and the Attica prison rebellion.
Interview with Warren Wells by Mark Schwartz Interview with Warren Wells by Mark Schwartz
Date: 1/1/1973Call Number: CD 139Format: CDProducers: Mark SchwartzCollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
Excellent interview with Warren Wells in 1973 in Folsom Prison done by Mark Schwartz. He talks about his own politicization, life inside, political prisoners, the Black Panther Party inside, need to build support for prisoners like Geronimo Pratt and Ruchell Magee, the San Quentin Six and others. Great quality and very important in addressing the prison movement of the 1970s. Warren Wells died in prison in June, 2001. From 1/4 inch dub. Reel to reel ends abruptly in mid sentence. Some warble in track 2. Very end of last sentence repeated for track 3.
Luis Talamantez poem Luis Talamantez poem
Date: 9/13/1973Call Number: CAA 109Format: 1/4 15 ipsProducers: Comunicacion AztlanCollection: Arts, literature and poetry – a program series produced by Comunicacion Aztlan
Ruben Ruybal reads a poem of Luis Talamantez, with Phil Serrano on guitar. “Juan Lopez Caballos.” Same as CD 384
Nuyorican poets in California; Poetry of Elias Hruska Cortes; A Poem for Three Pigs; Poems for and by Pablo Neruda; Nina Serrano Live Poetry. Nuyorican poets in California; Poetry of Elias Hruska Cortes; A Poem for Three Pigs; Poems for and by Pablo Neruda; Nina Serrano Live Poetry.
Date: 6/1/1973Call Number: CD 395Format: CDCollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
Three Nuyorican poets read their poems: Victor Hernandez Cruz, Miguel Algarin, & Miguel Pinero. Same as CAA 011 Three poems read and written by Elias Hruska Cortes and a song by Rafael Ramirez 1) El Tiempo es Ya, poem about the Mission 2) Song 3) Alma Bronze, poem about Viet Nam 4) Yellow Peril Woman Same as CAA 039 A prison poem written and performed by Ruben Ruybal with live guitar accompaniment by Philip Serrano. Same as CAA 040 A poem by Pablo Neruda read by Nina Serrano and a poem to Pablo Neruda written and read by Nina Serrano. Recorded by phone. Same as CAA 041 Poems written and read by Nina Serrano. 5/17/1973 1) To Roque Dalton 2) Memorium 3) Must I hear you bragging Conquistador? Longshoreman’s Hall on 2/18/72 4) Chinatown Fair 5) Woman Pirate 6) To Roque, before leaving to Fight in Unknown terrain Same as CD 395 Same as CAA 042
Attica Attica
Date: 1/1/1973Call Number: CD 732Format: DVDProducers: Cinda FirestoneCollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
Archival footage, photographs and interviews from Attica prison and the Attica prison rebellion.