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, specifcally AND/+, NOT/-, and OR operators. 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.
Welcome to the Freedom Archives' Digital Search Engine.The Freedom Archives contains over 12,000 hours of audio and video recordings which date from the late-1960s to the mid-90s and chronicle the progressive history of the Bay Area, the United States, and international movements. We are also in the process of scanning and uploading thousands of historical documents which enrich our media holdings. Our collection includes weekly news, poetry, music programs; in-depth interviews and reports on social and cultural issues; numerous voices from behind prison walls; diverse activists; and pamphlets, journals and other materials from many radical organizations and movements.

Cultural Workers Movement

This collection contains materials related to the cultural workers movements in California in the 1970s, which sought to advocate for and organize cultural workers dedicated to indigenous and international artistic forms and ideas, and to form a committed revolutionary and anti-imperialist cultural front. 

The majority of this collection includes material related to the Cultural Workers' Front of Our America (El Frente de Trabajadores de la Cultura de Nuestra America), the North American section of the original Frente organization formed in Quito Ecuador in 1972. At the Quinto Festival de los Teatros Chicanos/Primer Encuentro Latino Americano, it was decided to expand the front to North America so that cultural workers whose objectives matched those of the Frente and who struggled against US imperialism could be included.   

Composed of visual artists, writers, musicians, and theater people, the Front was dedicated to "rediscovering and building peoples' culture; to using culture as a form of political education; and producing work which reflects the struggles of Third World and working people in the U.S." 

Materials in this collection illuminate the history, formation, and cultural work of the Frente (in the US) during its main period of activity from 1974-1975. This includes materials related to Frente conferences, publications, and internal notes and proposals. The collection also includes some miscellaneous material from similar organizations and cultural initiatives. 

Documents

Frente Conference - San Francisco 1975 (video clip) Frente Conference - San Francisco 1975 (video clip)
Date: 2/1975Call Number: Format: Video ClipCollection: Cultural Workers Movement
Conference intended to unite and highlight revolutionary cultural workers and the power of cultural work. MC- Merle Goldstone 5 Bay Area muralists - Jane Norling, Peggy Tucker, Art Williams, Consuela Mendez, Tim Dresmend UCLA student (unidentified) - Poem Lincoln Bergman KPFA and KPOO Third World Programming - role that radio played in the Cuban Revolution Chui - critique of audience for not including people in prison Hilton Obenzinger - poetry May 4th Singers (from I-Hotel Struggle) SF Mime Troupe- theater collective - "The Mother"- on farm-workers and unions Melodie and Lonnie speak on the play, the process and challenges of developing revolutionary culture.