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

The Other Side of Crazy The Other Side of Crazy
Author: Lonny ShavelsonPublisher: East Bay ExpressYear: 1986Volume Number: Vol. 9-5 November 14Format: ArticleCollection: Mental Health
Original Article highlighting people who have been in and out of mental hospitals.
Judgement: An Open Letter to Attorney General Griffin Bell Judgement: An Open Letter to Attorney General Griffin Bell
Publisher: Alderson Hospitality HouseYear: 1978Volume Number: Vol. 2-2 JulyFormat: PeriodicalCollection: Mental Health
An Open Letter to Attorney General Griffin Bell from Milton G. Rector President on Crime and Delinquency is the featured article.
Women in the Colonial Society: Massive Sterilization Women in the Colonial Society: Massive Sterilization
Author: Margarita MergalFormat: ExcerptCollection: Puerto Rico: A History of the People
This excerpt is about massive sterilization and the myth of overpopulation. Includes information on sterilization as part of the the colonial project in Puerto Rico.
Native American Growing Fight against Sterilizations of Women Native American Growing Fight against Sterilizations of Women
Author: Andrea CarmenPublisher: Akwesasne NotesVolume Number: Late WinterFormat: ArticleCollection: Native Americans
Article discussing evidence of the genocidal campaign of sterilizations that the US government is carrying out against Native peoples.