Search Tips

Browsing

To browse the online collections, simply select the Browse Archive button at the top of the page. Select the collection you wish you to peruse, and then use the facets on the left to focus your browsing according to your interests.

 

Searching

If you know what you are looking for, try using the Search box located at the top of the website. The search recognizes keywords in any field describing an item. You can search for a specific subject, date, creator, or title by using the filters alongside the search box. Searching is not case-sensitive.

The search feature also recognizes some standard search operators:

Quotes: If you would like to search for multiple words together, place them in quotes. For example, “frances willard” will only return results where the terms frances and willard are right next to each other.

Question Marks: If you aren’t sure of the spelling of a term, you can use a question mark in place of the uncertain letter. For example, if you aren’t sure if frances is spelled with an i or an e, you can search franc?s to make sure all of the results are returned, regardless of the spelling.

Asterisks: Use an asterisk on the end of a word stem to find all variations of that word. For example, searching architect* will return results with architecture, architects, architectural, etc.

AND: You can use AND between search terms to make sure that your results contain all of the terms you requesting. For example, you might search willard AND building to find results that only discuss Willard in regards to buildings.

OR: You can use OR between terms in order to receive search results that contain either of the terms. For example, you might search willard OR frances to return all results with one or the other term, not necessarily both.

NOT: You can use NOT to ensure that your search returns results for a term without another term with which it is frequently associated. For example, you might search willard NOT frances to return only results with the word willard.