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.

Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials

Documents

Everyman Everyman
Call Number: V 720Format: VHSProducers: Estuary PressCollection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
Everyman is the name of a boat built in Sausalito by the Bay Area peace movement to sail into the Pacific Ocean nuclear test zones to protest nuclear testing. The film covers Everyman's first and only voyage on May 27th, 1962 when it sailed out the Golden Gate only to be stopped twenty miles out by the U.S. Coast Guard who arrested the crew and impounded the boat. Protests included sit-in demonstrations at the U.S. Marshall's office where Joan Baez took part, singing "We Shall Overcome." The crew was eventually sentenced to 30 days in jail.
Hot Damn! Hot Damn!
Call Number: V 733Format: VHSProducers: Estuary PressCollection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
Hot Damn! is a short film with unique footage of the Bay Area peace movement at a time when the Vietnam War was escalating rapidly. Segments include the Berkeley troop train demonstrations; peace marches from Berkeley to Oakland, ending in a massive confrontation with local police; the Oakland Army Induction Center draft protests, draft card burning, and the sit-ins of 1964-1965.
No Greater Cause No Greater Cause
Call Number: V 735Format: VHSProducers: Estuary PressCollection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
No Greater Cause chronicles the height of the anti-Vietnam war movement in the Bay Area. Footage shows the massive confrontations in Oakland between police and anti-draft protesters in 1967; the rally of 100,000 against the war at Kezar Stadium in April, 1967; and other events. Vietnam veteran David Duncan told demonstrators, "Protesters are the best friends the soldiers in Vietnam have."