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

Latino Gang Conference Latino Gang Conference
Date: 9/27/1993Call Number: CV 155Format: Cass A & BProducers: Chuy VarelaCollection: Chuy Varela Collection
"Why gangs exist" by Dr. Armando Torres Morales. A presentation about the broad definition of a gang and the subjectivity of its qualifications. He also mentions gun control and the enhancement of legal penalties for gang members or suspected gang members. Side B is Natalie Salazar, the Civilian Director for the LA County Sheriffs Department. Her presentation "Community Projects" is about combating gangs. She discusses tagging and drugs and how they can lead to gang activity, bringing a law enforcement perspective to the issue.
Latino Gang Conference Part 2 Latino Gang Conference Part 2
Date: 9/27/1993Call Number: CV 163Format: Cass A & BProducers: Chuy VarelaCollection: Chuy Varela Collection
"Latino Gangs and the Media" with panelists Dr. Larry Trujillo, Joseph Rodriguez, Jesus Chuy Varela and Tomas Roman. Panelists bring photo-journalism, grass-roots organizing and personal experience to the discussion.
Latino Gang Conference Part 3 Latino Gang Conference Part 3
Date: 9/28/1993Call Number: CV 165Format: Cass A & BProducers: Chuy VarelaCollection: Chuy Varela Collection
"Southern California Latino Gangs" with Daniel Guzman about family, tagging, and law enforcement.
Latino Gang Conference Part 4 Latino Gang Conference Part 4
Date: 9/28/1993Call Number: CV 166Format: Cass A & BProducers: Chuy VarelaCollection: Chuy Varela Collection
Daniel Vasquez, warden of San Quentin, and Lt Richard Mandeville, correctional Lt at San Quentin talk about prison gangs, prison violence and the Northern vs Southern California rivalry.
Latino Gang Conference Part 5 Latino Gang Conference Part 5
Date: 9/29/1993Call Number: CV 167Format: Cass A & BProducers: Chuy VarelaCollection: Chuy Varela Collection
State Attorney General Daniel Lungrun gives law enforcement perspective on general statistics and possible solutions for gangs and crime in California. Followed by public interviews about the conference.
Carmen y Cecilia: Gangs in the Mission Carmen y Cecilia: Gangs in the Mission
Date: 1/8/1993Call Number: CV 218BFormat: Cass BProducers: Chuy VarelaCollection: Chuy Varela Collection
Both women work for social justice organizations in the Mission neighborhood in San Francisco and discuss the dangers, causes and consequences of young Latinos joining gangs. The underrepresenation of Latino voices in the school districts, the closing of schools in the area, and the lack of recreational space for young people are discussed. They also talk about parents who are less literate than their children, warning signs of gang-related activity and workshops that groups like Padres Unidos hold to better educate parents.