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

Marion Prison and Inmate Interviews Marion Prison and Inmate Interviews
Call Number: V 337Format: VHSCollection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
Inside USP Marion features interviews with prisoners, including Oscar Lopez Rivera and Sekou Odinga. Guards and other prison personnel are also interviewed.
Shut Down the Control Units Shut Down the Control Units
Date: 1/1/1988Call Number: V 375Format: VHSProducers: Committee to End the Marion LockdownCollection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
US policies at Marion violate the United Nation's Standard Minimum Rules for Treatment of Prisoners that were established for countries like Chile and South Africa. The control units at Marion often are used to silence political prisoners and those demanding prisoners rights.
CEML: Marion Conf 10-24-1987 Tape #3 CEML: Marion Conf 10-24-1987 Tape #3
Date: 10/24/1987Call Number: V 622Format: VHSProducers: CEMLCollection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
Footage of a model control unit cell followed by the judges all speaking and rendering verdicts. Moderator: Nancy Kurshan. Judges: Betty Balanoff, Darla Bradley, Dave Dellinger, Bernard Headley, Sister Jean Hughes, Morton Sobell, Akinyela Umoja.
Marion Prison and Inmate Interviews Marion Prison and Inmate Interviews
Call Number: V 637Format: DV CamCollection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
Excerpts of Inside USP Marion, features interview with political prisoner Sekou Odinga.