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

Pelican Bay State Prison Pelican Bay State Prison
Date: 1/1/1994Call Number: V 573Format: VHSProducers: Lowell BergmanProgram: 60 Minutes - CBSCollection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
About the inner-workings and procedures of Pelican Bay State Prison, specifically the Security Housing Unit (SHU). Footage of the SHU. Interviews with inmates, most notably Vaughn Dorch, Pelican Bay State Prison guards, and expert doctors and witnesses in the Madrid v. Gomez case - prisoner instigated human rights challenge to isolation and conditions.
Pelican Bay Prison Pelican Bay Prison
Date: 11/25/1994Call Number: CD 796Format: CDCollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
About the inhuman conditions of Pelican Bay control unit prison. Prisoners describe how the prison prevents them from receiving pictures from home. The prison also prohibits having books, because they can be used as weapons. Also mentioned was the lack of health services and the difficulty of obtaining medications.
Prison Politics Prison Politics
Date: 1/1/1994Call Number: V 675Format: DVDProgram: WWOR TV Ch 9Collection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
Interviews with prison wardens, prison rights activists and political prisoners on solitary confinement at New Jersey State Prison Trenton. Details the meaning of no-=touch torture, inhumane conditions and illegal transfers to solitary confinement on the basis of prisoner beliefs.
Control Unit Madness Control Unit Madness
Author: ShepPublisher: Z MagazineDate: 12/1994Volume Number: DecemberFormat: ArticleCollection: Control Units
Reproduction
[Graphics: Diagrams of Control Units] [Graphics: Diagrams of Control Units]
Author: R. DeerYear: 1994Format: GraphicCollection: Control Units
Reproduction of original drawings.