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

Paul Robeson: Peace Arch & Wales Paul Robeson: Peace Arch & Wales
Call Number: PR 073Format: 1/4 7 1/2 ipsCollection: Paul Robeson recordings
Concert at Peace Arch Park, May 18, 1952; Concert to Welsh miners by cable 1957 Same as CD 338, Track 1, 4-7
Paul Robeson Sings & speaks Paul Robeson Sings & speaks
Date: 6/12/1953Call Number: PR 074Format: 1/4 7 1/2 ipsCollection: Paul Robeson recordings
House Concert at home of George Anderson, San Francisco. Speeches, Mussorgsky aria, blacklisting letter to Manchester. Same as CD 338, Track 5-7
Paul Robeson, BBC Tribute 1988 Paul Robeson, BBC Tribute 1988
Date: 1/1/1988Call Number: PR 075Format: 1/4 7 1/2 ipsProducers: BBCCollection: Paul Robeson recordings
Includes biographical narrative on Robeson, interspersed with excerpts from his speeches, musical recordings and commentaries. Same as CD 339, Track 1
Paul Robeson: Sid Roger narrative, Part 2 Paul Robeson: Sid Roger narrative, Part 2
Date: 1/1/1977Call Number: PR 076Format: 1/4 7 1/2 ipsCollection: Paul Robeson recordings
Narrative on Robeson, Peekskill, his relation to the Bay Area, his activity for the 1948 Henry Wallace campaign and the Progressive Party in 1952 Same as CD 339, Track 2
Tribute to Paul Robeson, WBAI Tribute to Paul Robeson, WBAI
Date: 1/1/1968Call Number: PR 077Format: 1/4 3 3/4 ipsProgram: WBAICollection: Paul Robeson recordings
Tribute to Paul Robeson, for his 70th Birthday. Pete Seeger narrates Robeson’s life, interspersed with Robeson recordings and commentary by Lawrence Brown, Lloyd L. Brown, Floyd McKissack, Ted Poston, Harry Bragg, Leonard dePaur. Robeson recording of “Go Down Moses;” the last speech of Othello, with Robeson’s introduction; narrative on Robeson’s life by William L. Patterson; recordig made by the Westchester Committee for Law & Order following the Peekskill “riots” of 1949, with the Weavers singing “Hold the Line,” and Pete Seeger, Howard Fast, Alice Childress, Fred Hillerman telling the true story of the attacks at Peekskill and commenting on Robeson’s fightback; recording of Robeson singing “The House I Live In.” Also contains recordings from the May 18, 1952 Peace Arch Concert and the 1957 concert via trans-atlantic cable to the Eisteddfod Festival in Wales. Same as CD 341 & 342
Sid Roger on Paul Robeson - Part 1 Sid Roger on Paul Robeson - Part 1
Date: 1/1/1977Call Number: PR 078Format: 1/4 7 1/2 ipsProgram: KPFACollection: Paul Robeson recordings
Sid Roger on Paul Robeson Part 1 Same as CD 344, Tracks 3-5 Note: These may be duplicates of some part s of PR 042 (CD 279, Tracks 4 &5) and PR 016 (CD 243, Track 1) and PR 017 (CD 243, Track 2) Sid Roger on Paul Robeson, Reel 2 is on PR 076 and CD 339, Track 2
Paul Robeson Sings Paul Robeson Sings
Call Number: PR 079Format: 1/4 7 1/2 ipsProducers: Emiliano EcheverriaCollection: Paul Robeson recordings
Studio recordings of spirituals and folk songs, Bill of Rights Same as CD 345, Track 1-5
Big Paul 1960 Big Paul 1960
Date: 1/1/1960Call Number: PR 080Format: 1/4 7 1/2 ipsCollection: Paul Robeson recordings
Robeson's last record in Perth, Australia Excerpts from Robeson’s speech: “Life of a Black Man” (includes some singing, to illustrate his points); recites "Freedom Train" - by Langston Hughes; sings “Brother, Sing Your Country's Anthem” Same as CD 345, Track 6-8
Paul Robeson: Here I Stand Paul Robeson: Here I Stand
Date: 3/3/1976Call Number: PR 081Format: 1/4 7 1/2 ipsCollection: Paul Robeson recordings
Readings by Karl Marx Yeargans, from Here I Stand, by Paul Robeson Same as CD 366, Track 1
Black Hands recordings Black Hands recordings
Call Number: PR 082Format: 1/4 7 1/2 ipsCollection: Paul Robeson recordings
Black Hands Recordings from Joe Johnson Same as CD 366, Track 2