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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.
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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

Nothing Is More Precious Than Nothing Is More Precious Than
Date: 9/13/1975Call Number: NI 036Format: 1/4 7 1/2 ipsProducers: Claude Marks, Lincoln BergmanProgram: Nothing Is More Precious ThanCollection: “Nothing is More Precious Than…” a news magazine including music and poetry
Program that is centered on the second anniversary of the coup in Chile and the fourth anniversary of the Attica prison rebellion. Chile section features actuality of Salvador Allende speech at UN, Pete Seeger on Victor Jara. Attica section features actuality of Frank Smith, William Kunstler, Amiri Baraka and several unnamed prisoners on Attica conditions, the rebellion, and the state's brutal response. Program also includes updates on repression at Wounded Knee and against the American Indian Movement, and an update on the San Quentin 6 trial. Bruce Solloway reports on Attica trials and solidarity events (including Amiri Baraka talk in Buffalo), then Claude Marks/Lincoln Bergman mix of Attica actuality. Note: Some of the Attica actuality used on Freedom Archives “Prisons on Fire” CD.
Remember Attica: The Rebellion Remember Attica: The Rebellion
Date: 9/11/1971Call Number: PM 149Format: 1/4 7 1/2 ipsProducers: Delores CostelloProgram: WBAICollection: Attica
Live coverage of the Attica rebellion starting September 9, 1971. LD Barkley reads the prisoner’s manifesto which outlines their demands . Tom Soto of the Prisoner Solidarity Committee speaks on the prison conditions that lead up to the rebellion. Members of the negotiating committee, Rev. Wyatt T. Walker, Black Panther leader, Bobby Seale, Assemblyman Jim Evers and Juan Ortiz of the Young Lords Party are interviewed while visiting the prison. The inmates requested that three reporters be sent into the prison. Contains the reporters’ interviews with inmates and hostages from within the prison during the occupation.
Remember Attica: The Invasion Remember Attica: The Invasion
Date: 9/12/1971Call Number: PM 150Format: 1/4 7 1/2 ipsProducers: Paul Fisher, Delores CostelloProgram: WBAICollection: Attica
Commissioner of Correctional Services, Russell Oswald statement to the prisoners on 9/12/71. Prisoners are assaulted by air and ground. Jerry Hoolahan speaks on Oswald’s statement. Paul Fisher reports outside Attica’s gates as the invasion takes place. Interview with William Kunstler, an attorney and member of the Citizen’s Negotiating Committee. Includes Oswald’s speech after the invasion and Clarence Jones (Publisher of Amsterdam News and member of the Citizen’s Negotiating Committee) response to Oswald’s speech. Interview with a medical assistant exiting the scene reporting on the conditions of the prisoners
Inside Attica- An Interview with Frank Smith Inside Attica- An Interview with Frank Smith
Date: 2/14/1972Call Number: PM 155Format: 1/4 7 1/2 ipsProducers: Bruce SolowayProgram: WBAICollection: Attica
Bruce Soloway interviews Frank Smith, a prisoner and a leader of the Attica rebellion, isolated from the media since its violent end. Smith speaks on the torture he received following the rebellion, the premeditated murder of LD Barkley, the racial problems created by the institution, the inhumane treatment towards prisoners by the judicial and correctional department, and the lack of educational materials and health care within the prison. Smith emphasizes the need for communication between guards and prisoners and the need for the oppressed people of the United States to start act to change the conditions of their lives. After five years of incarceration Smith reports that Attica has changed for the worse. Excerpted on PM 151.
Remember Attica: Blackout Remember Attica: Blackout
Date: 9/18/1972Call Number: PM 157Format: 1/4 7 1/2 ipsProducers: Bruce Soloway, Paul FisherProgram: WBAICollection: Attica
Part III of the “Remember Attica” series. Following the Attica rebellion state officials imposed a news blackout. Days after the state troopers violently ended the rebellion many reporters, lawyers, relatives and doctors are not allowed inside. Commissioner of the State Department of Corrections, Jerry Hoolinan gives a press conference, but offers no answers to the events of the preceding days. The special assistant to the Deputy Attorney General, Robert E. Fisher, gives a public statement and yet leaves the public with no answers. Authorities offer only official statements to the press. The press corners prison guards visiting Attica from other institutions, doctors, lawyers and relatives of prisoners for information. The relatives are worried and were told they could visit , but were not allowed in when they arrived. The doctors and lawyer allowed inside the prison are able to give accounts of the attacks and conditions.
Remember Attica: Reconstruction, Reflection, Reaction Remember Attica: Reconstruction, Reflection, Reaction
Date: 11/5/1971Call Number: PM 158Format: 1/4 7 1/2 ipsProducers: Bruce Soloway, Paul FisherProgram: WBAICollection: Attica
Part V of the “Remember Attica” series. Responses of clergy, attorneys, doctors, congressmen and the prisoner’s relatives in the weeks following the rebellion. Lawyers were admitted on 9/17/71. A week later the National Lawyers Guild gave a press conference outside the prison. They concluded that Rockefeller, and prison officials (Oswald, Mancusi and Vincent) provoked the attack by giving wrongful information to guards and troopers. On 9/17/71 BUILD, black community activists in Buffalo, went to Meyer Memorial Hospital where seriously wounded prisoners had been taken. BUILD’s executive director, Bill Gater demands that the administrative director of the hospital let him see the prisoners or give him information on their conditions. A list of prisoners and their medical conditions is read. The next day clergy and relatives are let in to see patients. Reverend Richard Ford, president of BUILD speaks about the conditions of the prisoners. Committees were formed to investigate the events at Attica. A group of New York clergymen and a congressional delegation group speak on Attica.Finally on 9/29 relatives are let into the prison to speak with prisoners. Interviews are conducted with families exiting prison.
Arthur Eve on Attica Arthur Eve on Attica
Date: 1/1/1972Call Number: PM 156Format: 1/4 7 1/2 ipsProducers: Rob CrockerProgram: WBAICollection: Attica
Arthur Eve, black Assemblyman from Buffalo, New York and a member of the Attica rebellion observer committee speaks about what happened during the rebellion. He was one of the first people to enter the prison at the rebellion’s inception. He talks about the involvement of the other observer committee members (Bobby Seale, Kenyatta, The Young Lords, FIGHT, Tom Hicks). Arthur Eve wrote to Governor Rockefeller asking him to come to Attica to avoid massacre. Eve talks about how the prison officials lied to the prisoners, about Frank Smith and his torture by prison officials.
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 Michael Deutsch about Attica Prison Rebellion Interview with Michael Deutsch about Attica Prison Rebellion
Date: 5/1/2001Call Number: PM 171Format: Cass A & BProducers: Claude MarksCollection: Attica
Claude Marks interviews Michael Deutsch about Attica Prison Rebellion and its aftermath for Prisons on Fire.
Angela Davis on George Jackson and history of the modern-day prison movement Angela Davis on George Jackson and history of the modern-day prison movement
Date: 3/19/2001Call Number: PM 174Format: DATProducers: Claude Marks, Lincoln BergmanCollection: George Jackson
Claude Marks and Lincoln Bergman interview Angela Davis on the murder of George Jackson and the history of the modern-day prison movement.