Search Help

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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.

Silvia Baraldini

Silvia Baraldini is an Italian Nationalist most known for her work as a White Anti-Imperialist. She became active against the war in Vietnam while attending the University of Wisconsin. This work would lead her to focus on exposing the US government’s illegal COINTELPRO program to decimate Black dissent work in solidarity with the militant struggle to liberate Puerto Rico. In the 1970’s, Silvia became involved in militant political activities which would lead to her arrest and a 40 year sentence for Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act charges.

During her incarceration she received unusually harsh treatment in the US federal prison system, including time at Lexington HSU for women. There she suffered medical neglect and psychological torture. The institution was eventually shut down due to a human rights lawsuit filed by the ACLU. After a protracted battle to reduce her security rating, Baraldini was transferred to Danbury, CT. A popular campaign by the Italian people resulted in her transfer to Italy in 1999 to serve the remainder of her sentence. She was released on September 26, 2006.

Documents

Radical Measures Radical Measures
Publisher: Common Cause MagazineYear: 1990Volume Number: May/JuneFormat: MonographCollection: Silvia Baraldini
Come Liberare Silvia Dal Carcere Di New York Come Liberare Silvia Dal Carcere Di New York
Author: Lucio ManiscoPublisher: AvvenimentiDate: 4/11/1990Volume Number: April 11Format: MonographCollection: Silvia Baraldini
Italian
Letter to President Piero Calla Letter to President Piero Calla
Author: Assistant Attorney General Judy GreenspanPublisher: U.S. Department of JusticeDate: 12/19/1990Volume Number: 19-DecFormat: CorrespondenceCollection: Silvia Baraldini
US denial of transfer of Silvia Baraldini to Italy, to serve the remainder of her sentence for involvement in the Brinks Robbery