How to Search the Text Collection

Yes, use either Quick Search or the Advanced Search fields: Keyword Search, Title, Full-Text, Date and/or Subject Terms. In Advanced Search, check off the collections you want to include in the “Search In” box on the right. However, your search results are likely to be more accurate and complete if you limit your search to a single databank.

Yes. Our online Finding Aids provide information on the topical areas covered in our collections. This background will help you construct searches.

Yes, use the Advanced Search field, “Search in Collection.” Select the collection (e.g., New York 1921-1932, Geneva 1945-1954) by clicking on the magnifying glass icon within the search window. Make sure that the search type (the three dots to the right of the search field) is set to Exact.

Given the volume of material digitized, a search may return hundreds of results. The maximum number of results shown is 500. You may wish to refine your search by adding values to additional search fields (e.g., keyword and a location or date span). You may also find use of the “search type” option helpful. Located to the right of all search fields, these options include Optimal, Exact, Contains the Phrase, and Begins With.

Exact returns results that exactly match the entered search terms. Optimal searches for results where the search term occurs within titles or other field values. Therefore, selecting Optimal will broaden your search. Contains the phrase is useful for searches on a term that is more than a single word (e.g., health care; displaced persons).

When using the “Full Text” field to search for a phrase or full name (e.g., “transportation for Cuban Jews,” “Lorraine Stein”), select the search type “Contains the phrase.”

See also “Can I use Boolean operators?” below.

Yes. Results can be filtered by item type (series, file, document, etc.). Select the item type from the menu on the left under “Templates”:

Viewing digital items in the order in which they appear in physical form offers context regarding their creation as well as valuable evidence about the organization and/or person who created the documents. To view digital items this way follow these steps once you have identified a folder whose contents you wish to view:

1. Open a new “Advanced search”
2. Copy / paste the folder title of interest into the “In Folder” search field.
3. Set the search type (three dots icon to the right of the In Folder field) to “Exact.”
4. On the results page, set the “Sorted by” drop-down menu (on the top right) to “Item ID = Asc,” which will organize the results in the same order as their physical counterparts.

Yes, use the Advanced Search field labeled “Full Text Search.” To search on a phrase or full name, select the search type “Contains the phrase.”

Yes. Instead of the words and, or, and not, use the symbols +, |, and -.

Examples:

This will return search results that include both “education” AND “kindergartens.”

This will return results that include either “education” OR “kindergartens.”

This operator is also useful when searching for personal names that may have spelling variations:

This will return results for people whose last name may be spelled “Schwartz” or “Schwarz.”

This will return results for “education” that do NOT also include “kindergartens.” (Note that there is no space after the minus sign.)

For Boolean searches that include phrases, use parentheses:

This will return results that include either “child care” OR “kindergartens.”

Once you are in a Document-level record, you can see other documents by the same author by clicking on the “Similar Items” icon to the right of the author’s name:

Note that authors’ names may occur in variant forms (e.g., full first name, first and middle initials, etc.). It may be necessary to conduct additional searches. To search by author, enter the name in “Surname, Given Name” format in the Keyword Search field.

Yes, though mainly within File-level records, which include a list of subjects. Clicking on one of the subject terms will get you a list of files that have the same subject. Note that the subject list is not comprehensive. We recommend that you use this field in addition to searching on keywords or full text.

Use the “Look Inside” tab (circled in green below) to access records within (i.e., one level below) the search result. Click on the “Connected to” link (boxed in red) to go up one level in the hierarchy.

The database does not save searches. We suggest that you keep track of search criteria if you wish to rerun the search in the future.

There are two ways to record the location of individual results in a reliable way, so that they can be found later.

1. Choose an item within your search result and note the Item ID, which is a unique identifier for the record. There are two ways to retrieve the record with the Item ID:
   In Quick Search, input the Item ID number into the Quick Search field and your query will retrieve the matching record as the first result with the Item ID in bold
   In Advanced Search, input the Item ID into the Keyword Search field and your query will retrieve the matching record as the first result with the Item ID in bold
2. Choose an item within your search result and note the record’s URL:
   Find “More Options” on the left-side menu
   Then choose Show URL for a permanent URL of the record

Our preferred citation format is: Repository, Title of Collection, Folder number, Title of item, Date of item, https://search.archives.jdc.org, item [ITEM ID number].
Example: JDC Archives, Records of the New York office of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, 1914-1918, Folder #143.3, Cablegram from Albert Lucas to Ambassador Francis, August 7, 1917, https://search.archives.jdc.org, item 10139.

The Society of American Archivists has published Using Archives: A Guide To Effective Research to address the basics of accessing historic materials in archives.