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

Interview with Luis Godoy Interview with Luis Godoy
Call Number: LA 115Format: CassetteCollection: Nicaragua
1989 interview with Nicaraguan revolutionary musician, Luis Godoy. Godoy was born in 1945 during the Samoza dictatorship. He speaks about the responsibility of an artist to send an important message and raise the consciousness of the people. Godoy then explained that from a very young age he realized that he could express the injustices of Nicaragua through songs, "I realized that my music could be used as a social tool". Throughout the interview, Godoy discusses those who have influenced his music, his involvement with past bands, and his visions for the future in both his musical career and for his country.
Ahora: Roots of Salsa Ahora: Roots of Salsa
Date: 5/27/1989Call Number: CV 139Format: 1/4 1 7/8 ipsProducers: EmilianoProgram: AhoraCollection: Chuy Varela Collection
Music tribute to Daniel Santos. Includes community events calendar.
Ahora: Roots of Salsa Ahora: Roots of Salsa
Date: 5/27/1989Call Number: CV 140Format: 1/4 1 7/8 ipsProducers: EmilianoProgram: AhoraCollection: Chuy Varela Collection
Musical tribute to Daniel Santos. Includes community calendar.
Ahora: Roots of Salsa Ahora: Roots of Salsa
Date: 5/27/1989Call Number: CV 141Format: 1/4 1 7/8 ipsProducers: EmilianoProgram: AhoraCollection: Chuy Varela Collection
Music tribute to Miguelito Valdez.
Word Songs by Piri Thomas Word Songs by Piri Thomas
Date: 1/1/1994Call Number: CD 665Format: CDProducers: Sounds of the StreetsCollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
This masterly reading of his poetry is to the beat of Latino salsa/jazz and gospel music. Sounds of the Streets is a collection of poems interpreted by Piri Thomas in his own unique dramatic style and blended with the creativity of fine musicians including Patato Valdez. In this recording, soaring on wings of musical truth, the spoken word has been transposed onto a new plane, beautiful "wordsongs," which contain the feelings, the heartbeat, and the wisdom of the barrio way. A blend of poetry and Latin music. A perfect marriage between his 'flows' and the improvisational image conjured up in the mix.