Help
Basic Search Tips
- Multiple search terms will be combined with the AND operator, so all terms are
searched by default.
- Use quotes to search for an exact phrase.
- To find either one term or another, use an uppercase OR operator between the
two terms.
- To exclude a term from a search, use an uppercase NOT operator before the term
to be excluded.
- Alternately, you can exclude a term froma search by preceding it with a hyphen, i.e. "-Smith".
- Wildcard ? matches a single letter
- Wildcard * matches zero or more letters
- Searches are not case sensitive.
- By using the drop down menu, you can restrict your search to finding aids from
a particular repository by selecting that repository from the available
list.
Advanced Search Tips
In addition to the basic search tips described above, in Advanced Search note
that:
- Three searches can be linked together using the boolean operators AND, OR, and NOT.
- Each search can be either a full text keyword search or restricted to a particular field in the
finding aid.
- Unlike the basic search, text entered into the Advanced search fields is treated as a
phrase by default, so there is no need to use quotation marks. If you want to combine more
than one phrase, use multiple search boxes.
- The searchable fields are as follows:
- Creator [Names of the persons/corporate bodies/families who created the materials described.]
- Title [Titles of the collections described.]
- Subject [Subjects (including topics, places, people, etc.) of the materials described.]
- Call Number [Identifier by which the materials described are tracked and requested.]
- Scope and Content [Text portions of the finding aid containing description of the materials described.]
- You can also restrict your search to a single repository.
Browse by Repository Tips
- The Browse by Repository box is available beneath the Search box on the home and
search results pages.
- Clicking on the name of a repository in the list will give you an alphabetical
list of all available finding aids to collections at that repository.