This page provides an alternative method of searching our inventories. It uses a Java program to search the same databases as the Index form linked to the title at the top of this page. If you have already made a search using that form, you will find nothing new with this one. There are some advantages, though, to using the form on this page: it allows you to accumulate answers from a series of searches, to delete lines that do not interest you, to limit your search by categories (e.g., audio-visual material), and to move your answers to an editing window where you can make changes, comments, or additions before you cut and paste the information into a file of your own or an email message. This form also has disadvantages: unlike the Index form above, it does not search the general descriptions of collections. If you double click on a line from this form, you will see a new window that contains the whole inventory; with the other form, you will see a page that contains the line in its context and permits you to page up and down in the database.

This program searches for whatever words you indicate. It is not case-sensitive, and it will find the words you type regardless of the order in which they appear. If you type William Tecumseh Sherman it will also find records that say Sherman, William Tecumseh. A more sensible search: Sherman William T (which puts the less common name first and does not require that every record have the middle name spelled out).

When you search for hyphenated words, you should substitute a space for the hyphen. Search for Anti Catholic, not for Anti-Catholic. When you search for words or names that include apostrophes, you should eliminate the apostrophe. Search for Ohara, not for O'Hara. If you truncate words, the program will find all records that have the letters you have included. If you type Sheed Fr it will find Francis Sheed, Frank Sheed, and Fr. Sheedy.

You can exclude records by placing a minus sign before any word except the first (with no space between the minus sign and the word you want to exclude). Sheed Fr -Sheedy will find Francis Sheed and Frank Sheed but not Fr. Sheedy. If you already know that the Sheed and Ward Family Papers (CSWD) and the Sheed and Ward Office Files (CSAW) have many records that mention Frank Sheed, you can exclude these collections by searching for Sheed Fran -CSWD -CSAW.

You can see the particular inventory in which a line appears by following the link represented by the collection code. If the program finds a series of lines with the same collection code, each will take you to the same place: the beginning of the inventory represented by that code.

You can limit your search to Manuscripts (Ms), Photographs (Ph), Printed Material (Pr), Audio-Visual Material (Av), or University Records (Un) by means of the check boxes at the bottom of the grey box. Once you have a list in the grey box, you can refine your search. If you look for something new, the program will add what it finds to the end of the list. If you see lines in the list that you would like to eliminate, you can choose the 'Remove' option at the bottom of the grey box and then type words or letters from lines that you want to eliminate (making sure that lines you want to keep do not contain those words or letters). Press the 'Remove' button and the program will delete those lines. Type Tecumseh and the program will eliminate every line that contains Tecumseh. If you want to keep only lines that contain a certain word or phrase, you can choose the 'Retain' option type the word or phrase. Press the 'Retain' button and the program will eliminate lines that you do not want. Type Tecumseh and it will eliminate every line that does NOT contain Tecumseh.

Once you have a satisfactory list, you can press the 'Clip' button. This will copy the list into a clipboard and then clear the grey box. Press the arrow button to edit the text in the clipboard. You can add your own comments, paste the text into documents or into programs that will let you print it or email it, and generally have your way with it. (You will have to use the key combinations in your operating system to cut and paste, since the search form has no menu system. For example, you might mark text with the mouse and use Ctrl-X to cut it, Ctrl-C to copy it into the system's clipboard, or Ctrl-V to insert it in a new location.) Press the arrow button to see the grey box again and search for something else.

If you would like to see the whole inventory associated with one of the lines in the grey box, you can generally do so by clicking one of the lines twice. Each time you do this, you will open a new browser window; you can have several open at the same time. (If you do not have a high-resolution display, the new browser window may hide the old one; close or minimize the new window to see the old one again.)

If the form goes blank (or components of it disappear) you can restore it by paging down to read this instruction and then paging up again.