Close window | Help Contents

Help: Collection Search

The Archive Finder Collection Search page allows you to search for information on particular collections based on specific criteria.

• What types of search can I perform?
  • See also: Boolean, proximity and truncation searching
• How do I find information quickly?
• How do I perform more complex searches or restrict my search to a particular record type?
• How can I change the order in which my results are sorted?
• How can I change the number of results displayed per page?
• How can I bookmark the search page?
• Some search examples

What types of search can I perform?

You can quickly find information by using one or any combination of the search boxes: Keywords, Collection name, Repository name, Repository city / town, Repository state (US), Repository county (UK), Repository country, NIDS fiche number, NUCMC number, Index terms, Collection dates and the All records / NUCMC records / NIDS US records / NIDS UK records and Submitted records search options.

If you need help deciding what to enter into a search box, you can click the relevant select from a list link. This displays a list of appropriate terms for you to select, which are then transferred back to the relevant search box when you click Select.

To narrow the scope of your search you can join together your search terms using special sets of predefined words called operators. The help page on Boolean, proximity and truncation searching provides more information on how to use these operators.

Top of page ^

How do I find information quickly?

To list all records containing a particular word or phrase:

1. Enter the words you wish to search for in the Keywords box and click the Search button,
    
   or
    
   Choose the word(s) you want from the select from a list page.
    
   
2. Click the Search button.

Note: Use the predefined operators if you wish to perform a search for multiple keywords which are not usually found next to each other in the same phrase.

The Collection Search Results page will be displayed, listing all records containing the word(s) you entered.

Top of page ^

How do I perform more complex searches or restrict my search to a particular record type?

Collection name

You can search for records with a particular word or word(s) in the collection name:

1. Enter a word into the Collection name box,
    
   or
    
   Choose the word(s) you want from the select from a list page.
    
   
2. Click the Search button.

The Collection Search Results page will be displayed, listing all records where the word you have entered appears in the collection name.

 

Repository name

You can search for records with a particular word or word(s) in the repository name:

1. Enter a word into the Repository name box,
    
   or
    
   Choose the word(s) you want from the select from a list page.
    
   
2. Click the Search button.

The Collection Search Results page will be displayed, listing all records where the word you have entered appears in the repository name.

 

Repository city/town

You can search for records from a repository in a particular city or town:

1. Enter a word into the Repository city/town box,
    
   or
    
   Choose the cities or towns you want from the select from a list page.
    
   
2. Click the Search button.

The Collection Search Results page will be displayed, listing all records that match your chosen repository city/town.

 

Repository state (US)

You can search for records from a repository in a particular US state:

1. Enter a word into the Repository state (US) box,
    
   or
    
   Choose the state(s) you want from the select from a list page.
    
   
2. Click the Search button.

The Collection Search Results page will be displayed, listing all records that match your chosen repository state.

 

Repository county (UK)

You can search for records from a repository in a particular UK county:

1. Enter a word into the Repository county (UK) box,
    
   or
    
   Choose the counties you want from the select from a list page.
    
   
2. Click the Search button.

The Collection Search Results page will be displayed, listing all records that match your chosen repository county.

 

Repository country

You can restrict your search to repositories from a particular country (Austria, England, Republic of Ireland, Scotland, USA or Wales) using the relevant check boxes. By default, Archive Finder searches all countries.

To restrict your search to England records only:

1. Uncheck all the boxes to the left of each country
    
   
2. Click the check box for England.

The Collection Search Results page will be displayed, listing only records from repositories in England.

 

NIDS fiche number

You can retrieve a specific NIDS record using the NIDS fiche number search field:

1. Enter a word into the NIDS fiche number box,
    
   or
    
   Choose the number you want from the select from a list page.
    
   
2. Click the Search button.

The Collection Search Results page will be displayed, listing the record for that number.

 

NUCMC number

You can retrieve a specific NUCMC record using the NUCMC number search field:

1. Enter a word into the NUCMC number box,
    
   or
    
   Choose the number you want from the select from a list page.
    
   
2. Click the Search button.

The Collection Search Results page will be displayed, listing the results for that number.

 

Index terms

You can search for records with a particular word or words in the index terms using the Index terms field:

1. Enter a word into the Index terms box,
    
   or
    
   Choose the term you want from the select from a list page.
    
   
2. Click the Search button.

The Collection Search Results page will be displayed, listing all the records indexed under the term(s) you have entered.

 

Collection dates

To list records from collection(s) covering a particular year or range of years:

1. Enter the start year (in full) in the From box.
    
   
2. Enter the end year (in full) in the To box.
    
   
3. Click the Search button.

Note that if you wish to search for items published in a single year, you should enter the same dates in the From and To boxes.

 

Limit to:

You can restrict your search to all, or to a particular record type (NUCMC records, NIDS (US) records, NIDS (UK) records, or Submitted records) using the relevant radio button. By default, Archive Finder searches all record types.

To restrict your search to NUCMC records only:

1. Click the NUCMC records radio button.
    
   
2. Click the Search button.

The Collection Search Results page will be displayed, listing only NUCMC records.

Top of page ^

How can I change the order in which my results are sorted?

You can choose the order in which records are sorted in the Collection Search Results by using the Sort results drop-down list. Click the arrow to the right of the box and choose the relevant option from the list that appears. You can choose to sort your results by:

• Alphabetically by collection name (the default option)
• Alphabetically by repository name
• Chronologically by earliest date

Top of page ^

How can I change the number of results displayed per page?

You can choose whether to display 20 or 50 entries on the Collection Search Results using the Display drop-down list; by default Archive Finder displays 20 records per page but you can change this to 50 by clicking the arrow next to the drop-down list and selecting 50 records per page.

Top of page ^

How can I bookmark the Search page?

Click the Durable URL link. A panel will open containing the durable URL for the page. You can then copy and paste the link into your documents and email, or paste it into a new browser address bar to add it to your bookmarks.

Top of page ^

Some search examples

Multiple words in search terms

If you enter multiple words into a search field, Archive Finder will by default treat them as though they are connected with the Boolean operator AND, so that civil war Virginia is processed as civil AND war AND Virginia. You can override this using Boolean operators or quotation marks. For example:

• if you wish to search for phrases, enter the words in quotation marks, for example "civil war" Virginia will retrieve all records for items that contain both the phrase ‘civil war’ AND the word ‘Virginia’.
   
  
• civil war or Virginia will retrieve all records that contain the words ‘civil’ AND the word ‘war’ OR the word ‘Virginia’.
   
  
• civil or war or Virginia will retrieve all records that contain the word civil OR the word war OR the word Virginia.

TIP: All searches are case-insensitive, so you don't have to know whether a word should be capitalized or not. For example, there is no difference between presidential, Presidential or PreSidENtial.

Top of page ^