Advanced Search Tips for ARC

Once you are familiar with the Basic Search Steps, you may wish to make your ARC searches more sophisticated. The ARC Advanced Search Screen offers many options for refining or expanding your search.

Advanced Search Steps
- More Information about ARC Search Functions

Advanced Search Steps

To begin searching in ARC, go to the ARC Main Page and click on the Search Options link to go to the Search Options page. Press the Advanced Materials Search button.

Alternate Ways to the Advanced Search Screen: (a) Press the yellow search button on the left menu bar or click on the ARC logo on the Main Page. You will arrive at the Basic Search Screen by default. Press the Advanced Search button to go to the Advanced Screen. (b) If you enter keywords in the search box and click the search button or press the enter key, ARC will open a search results page or a message that no results were found. From the results page, you can click Refine Search and ARC will bring you to the Basic Search Screen by default. Press the Advanced Search button to go to the Advanced Screen.

1. Enter any keyword(s) in the box. The keyword search is the most comprehensive search, because it searches on every field in archival descriptions.

Please note that you can search more than one keyword at the same time by using Boolean operators such as AND, OR, and NOT between the search terms. You can also search for an exact phrase by placing curly braces {} around the words.

2. Select the limit of hits.

For the Basic and Advanced Searches, the number of results that are displayed can be limited by clicking on one of the three choices, 100, 1000 or 2000. The default number of hits that will be displayed is 100. For either search, the maximum number of results that can be displayed is 2000.

3. Select any other filters.

You may filter your search by selecting any of the filter options:
If you are specifically interested in locating images of documents related to your topic, the results will indicate if a digital copy is available. If you select the Descriptions of Archival Materials linked to digital copies box, then thumbnail images and their item level descriptions will result. If you choose not to select the Descriptions of Archival materials linked to digital copies box, results will appear with a link to any available digital copies.

If you wish to search for materials by location, select that location in the location scroll box.

If you wish to search for materials by type, select that type in type scroll box.

You may also wish to search by adding dates in the date filter box. Because all the records have dates and many dates ranges are very broad, you should always use other filters with a date filter.

4. There are eight additional filters on the Advanced Search Screen.

If you wish to search for materials by level of description, select that level in the level of description scroll box.

If you wish to search for materials by media type, select that type in the media type scroll box.

You may also use the Lookup filters to refine your search. To use any lookup filter, press the lookup button and enter a search in the box provided. If your lookup search returns results, you can then paste select results or paste all the results by pressing either button. The lookup filter results will automatically be added into the advanced screen. The Lookup filters include Record Group, Collection Identifier, Organization Name, Person Name and Topics.

Please note, that Organization name, person names and topics filters search on selected fields in a description. If no results are found using these filters, you may wish to enter the terms in the main keywords box and search again.

You can also search exclusively for Description Identifiers in the keyword box near the bottom of the screen.

5. Press the Go button.

If your search term was found in the ARC database, the search results will indicate the number of hits retrieved and then the results will be listed 10 per page. Please note that "hits retrieved" refers only to entries in the ARC database and does not include all the archival holdings of the National Archives.

You have the option to sort your hits. Sorting options include Relevancy Ranking (default sort), Date, and Creator.

If records are found, remember that ARC only includes information about a small portion of the materials available at the National Archives. You still may want to try different wording and search again.

If you are unable to locate descriptions in ARC, it may be a result of the limited number of descriptions in the catalog. Please contact the reference room at inquire@nara.gov for further assistance or call 1-86-NARA-NARA or 1-866-272-6272.

6. If you find reference to National Archives material that seems interesting, click on the title link. A more detailed description of the material will appear with information about the records' location and whom to contact about them. Please note that in some cases (a motion picture film, for example) the described material will be a specific item. In other cases, the described material may consist of a large series of records.

More Information about ARC Search Functions

Keyword Searching
- Keyword Quick Reference
- Keyword Detailed Reference
Filtering
Sorting

Keyword Searching

Keyword searching is performed from any of the keyword search boxes (the Basic and Advanced boxes, the Description Identifier box, and the People, Organization, and Topic lookup boxes).

Neither keywords nor operators are case-sensitive.

When you enter a phrase into a keyword search box, the results you receive depend on how that phrase is interpreted, as described here.

To begin, an operator is a reserved word with a special meaning, such as AND, OR, NOT. The results of the search will change depending upon when and where you use an operator.

If you enter only one word in the keyword search box, and that word is not an operator, then your search results will include only descriptions where that one word appears. (If that one word is an operator, you will receive an error message.)

If you enter more than one word in the keyword search box, and none of those words are operators, then your search results will include descriptions where the words are within 5 words of each other. For example, if you enter Harry Truman, then your search results will include descriptions where "Harry" and "Truman" are within 5 words of each other, in any order (i.e., Harry can be either before or after Truman).

If you enter more than one word in the keyword search box, and you include an operator, then the search will perform just the specified operation.

Example 1: if you enter Harry AND Truman, then your search results will include descriptions where the word "Harry" and the word "Truman" both appear. In this example, the words "Harry" and "Truman" do not need to be next to each other and they do not need to be in the order specified (Harry before Truman).
Example 2: If you enter Harry Truman AND Kennedy, then your search results will include descriptions where the words "Harry Truman" (together and in that order) and the word "Kennedy" both appear.

Keyword Quick Reference

The following is a Quick Reference for the most commonly used wildcards and operators you can include in your keyword search to refine your search.

Keyword	Resulting Hits
Harry Truman	finds all references where Harry and Truman are within 5 words of each other
Harry AND Truman	finds all references with both Harry and Truman in description
Harry OR Truman	finds Harry Harrison, Truman K. Gibson, and Harry Truman
{Harry S. Truman}	finds Harry S Truman and Harry S. Truman, but not Harry Truman
{Harry Truman} AND Captain	finds Harry Truman, 129th Field Artillery Captain
Truman NOT Harry	finds Truman K. Gibson, but not Harry Truman
(Franklin OR (Theodore NOT Teddy)) AND Roosevelt	finds Franklin Roosevelt and Theodore Roosevelt (as long as there's no reference to Teddy Roosevelt)
bal%	finds ball, balance, ballast, balderdash, etc.
bal_	finds ball, bale, and bald, but not balance
m%st	finds mist, midst, musketblast, etc.
m_st	finds mist, mast, and must, but not midst
_est	finds nest, best, and rest, but not forest
%est	finds forest, detest, rest, etc.

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Keyword Detailed Reference

Exact Phrase Searching

If you enter more than one word in the keyword search box, and you surround the words with curly braces, then your search results are based on an exact phrase match. For example, when you enter {Harry Truman} in the keyword search box, your results will only include descriptions where the words "Harry" and "Truman" appear together, in that exact order.

If you enter an operator inside of the curly braces, then the operator is treated like a regular word, and the search is based on an exact phrase match. For example, if you enter the exact phrase {Jackie and Kennedy}, your search results will include descriptions where the three words "Jackie and Kennedy" appear (all together and in that order).

If you enter more than one exact phrase, and you do include an operator, then your search results will include descriptions where both exact phrases are found. For example, if you enter {Harry Truman} OR {Jackie Kennedy}, your search results will include descriptions where either "Harry Truman" (together and in that order) or "Jackie Kennedy" (together and in that order) appear.

If you enter more than one exact phrase, and you do not include an operator, then your search results will include descriptions where the exact phrases are within 5 words of each other. For example, if you enter {Harry Truman} {Jackie Kennedy}, your search results will include descriptions where "Harry Truman" (together and in that order) is within 5 words of "Jackie Kennedy" (together and in that order).

If you enter an exact phrase plus one or more other words, and you do not include an operator, then the other words are also treated as an exact phrase. For example, if you enter Harry Truman {Jackie Kennedy}, then Harry Truman is interpreted as {Harry Truman} and your search results will include descriptions where "Harry Truman" (together and in that order) is within 5 words of "Jackie Kennedy" (together and in that order).

Important Points

All punctuation marks are ignored both inside and outside of the curly braces, with the exception of the dollar sign ($), percent sign (%), underscore (_), and hyphen (-).
When you enter a dollar sign, percent sign, or underscore inside curly braces, it is treated as a character to be matched to the description. When entered outside of the curly braces, these punctuation marks have reserved functions. The percent sign is a wildcard character match for multiple characters, and the underscore is a wildcard character match for a single character.

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Searching with Hyphens

When you enter the hyphen outside of curly braces, then the hyphen is ignored, and the characters on either side are meshed together for the search. For example, if you enter mid-atlantic in the keyword search box, your search results will include descriptions where the word midatlantic appears. When you enter the hyphen inside of curly braces, then the hyphen is treated as a character to be matched to the description. For example, if you enter {mid-atlantic}, your search results will include descriptions where the word mid-atlantic appears.

For example, to access descriptions that contain the word "pseudo-intellectual", use
{pseudo-intellectual}

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Operators

AND

Use the AND operator to search for descriptions that contain at least one occurrence of each of the query terms. In other words, ALL of the keywords must be present in the searchable description in order to result in a hit.

For example, to access descriptions that contain the words "red", "blue", and "black", use
      red AND blue AND black

OR

Use the OR operator to search for descriptions that contain at least one occurrence of ANY of the query terms. In other words, only ONE of the keywords must be present in the searchable description in order to result in a hit.

For example, to access descriptions that contain the words "cats" or "dogs", use
      cats OR dogs

NOT

Use the NOT operator to search for descriptions that contain one keyword, but not another.

For example, to access descriptions that contain the word "animals" but not "dogs", use
      animals NOT dogs

% and _ (wildcards)

Wildcard characters can be used in query expressions to expand word searches into pattern searches. The wildcard characters are: % and _ (the underscore character). The percent (%) wildcard specifies that any characters can appear in multiple positions represented by the wildcard. The underscore (_) wildcard specifies a single position in which any character can occur.

These wildcards can be applied to the beginning, the middle, or the end of keywords.

For example, to access descriptions that contain the words "ball", "balance", and "ballast", use
      bal%.
To access descriptions that contain the words "ball", "bale", and "bald", use
      bal_.

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Stop Words

Stop words are common English-language words that the ARC system will not find in a search because they have not been indexed. This helps improve system performance.
The ARC stop words are:

a
after
all
also
an
any
are
as
at
be

because
been
but
by
can
could
for
from
had
has

have
he
her
his
if
in
into
is
it
its

last
more
most
mr
mrs
ms
mz
no
only
of

on
one
other
out
over
s
so
says
she
some

such
than
that
the
their
there
they
this
to
was

we
were
when
which
who
will
with
would
up

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Filtering

Filtering allows you to refine your search. You can use filters alone, or with the keyword search.

For example, if you only want to find descriptions from the Jimmy Carter Library, simply go to the "Location" filter... click on the "Jimmy Carter Library"... and only the descriptions that are listed for that location will be included in your search.

You can usually select more than one term in a filter. If you want descriptions from both the Jimmy Carter Library and NARA's Southeast Region in Atlanta, simply choose BOTH of these selections before submitting your query. To select more than one option, simultaneously click on the term with your mouse and press the control key. If you are using an Apple computer, simultaneously click on the term and the command (Apple) key. Make sure you have not selected the "All" default as well as your other choice(s), because the "All" default will override the others.

You can mix and match as many filters as you wish. Combined with the keyword search, filtering provides a very powerful means of querying the ARC database.

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Digital Copies Only

When you select the digital copies checkbox, two things will happen when you submit your search: 1) only descriptions that have images associated with them will be included in the results, and 2) the search result pages will include thumbnails of the images instead of the usual text information.

Please note that selecting this checkbox is NOT the only means of accessing digital images from the ARC. If there is an image linked to a description, you will see it whether or not you have filtered on digital copies.

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Date Range

This filter allows you to narrow your search by means of the dates associated with the archival materials. The ARC database can be searched by the following types of dates: Inclusive Dates, Coverage Dates, Production Date, Copyright Date, Broadcast Date, Release Date.

The Date Range consists of two sets of date boxes. You may enter a date to search for in either or both. ARC will find descriptions of materials that fall between that range. If you leave the first date blank, ARC will default to the earliest date in the database. If you leave the last date blank, ARC will default to today's date.

Also note that it is not required to provide a month and day when entering a date. If you want all descriptions since 1805, for example, just enter the year in the Start Date YYYY field and all descriptions that include dates since January 1, 1805, will be included in your search results. Likewise, if you only want descriptions prior to 1950, just enter the year in the End Date YYYY field and all descriptions that include dates prior to December 31, 1950, will be included in your search results.

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Locations

The Locations filter allows you to limit your search to descriptions of materials held by one or more specific NARA units across the country. Simply click on the Location(s) desired to activate the filter.

The default is "All Locations."

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Types

The Types filter allows you to limit your search to descriptions that contain one or more type of archival materials, such as "Textual Records", "Maps and Charts" or "Moving Images." Simply click on the Type(s) desired to activate the filter.

The default is "All Types."

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Levels of Description (Advanced Search)

This filter allows you to limit your search to descriptions at one or more archival level. Simply click on the levels desired to activate the filter.

The Levels of Description are

Record Group
Collection
Series
File Unit
Item

The default is "All Levels."

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Media Types (Advanced Search)

The Media Type filter allows you to refine your search to include descriptions of archival holdings that have one or more Media Types, such as paper or film reel. Simply click on the Media Type(s) desired to activate the filter.

The default is "All Media Types."

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Record Group Numbers (Advanced Search)

This filter provides you with a means to conduct an Advanced Search to find all descriptions in ARC that are part of that Record Group, including the Record Group description itself.

To populate this filter, click on the corresponding "Lookup" button. This will take you to a search screen where you can enter Record Group Number(s) or keywords from Record Group Titles to find the specific Record Group Numbers you want to use to filter your Advanced Search. You may enter Record Group Numbers or keywords following the standard keyword search syntax. Do not use leading zeros. For example, enter 11, not 011.

Once you've found the Record Group(s) you want to use, select them and return to the Advanced Search screen by clicking either on the "Paste Selected" or "Paste All" buttons. The Record Group Numbers you've chosen will appear in the gray box on the Advanced Search screen.

When the "All Record Group Numbers" filter option is displayed, no Record Group Number filter is applied to the search results. If you have pasted in Record Group Number(s) and no longer wish to apply them as a filter, click the "Clear" button corresponding to the Record Group Number filter to return the selection to "All Record Group Numbers". You may also clear the entire search screen by clicking on the "Clear" button at the top of the Advanced Search screen.

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Collection Identifiers (Advanced Search)

This filter provides you with a means to conduct an Advanced Search to find all descriptions in ARC that are part of that Collection, including the Collection description itself.

To populate this filter, click on the corresponding "Lookup" button. This will take you to a search screen where you can enter Collection Identifier(s) or keywords from Collection Title(s) to find the specific Collection Identifiers you want to use to filter your Advanced Search. You may enter Collection Identifiers or keywords following the standard keyword search syntax. Once you've found the Collection(s) you want to use, select them and return to the Advanced Search screen by clicking either on the "Paste Selected" or the "Paste All" buttons. The Collection Identifiers you've chosen will appear in the gray box on the Advanced Search screen.

When the "All Collection Identifiers" filter option is displayed, no Collection Identifier filter is applied to the search results. If you have pasted in Collection Identifier(s) and no longer wish to apply them as a filter, click the "Clear" button corresponding to the Collection Identifier filter to return the selection to "All Collection Identifiers". You may also clear the entire search screen by clicking on the "Clear" button at the top of the Advanced Search screen.

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Description Identifiers (Advanced Search)

This keyword search box provides you with a convenient means of filtering your search based on some of the most common identifiers used by NARA to identify archival descriptions. These identifiers include:

Record Group Number
Collection Identifier
Variant Control Number
ARC Identifier
Former Record Group Number
Former Collection Identifier

Just enter the appropriate number/identifier (or combination, following the standard keyword search syntax) and the criteria provided will be used to further filter the Advanced Search when you hit the "Go" button at the top (or bottom) of the screen.

If the "Description Identifiers" field is blank, then no Description Identifier filter is applied to the search results.

Be sure to place the description identifier within curly braces, e.g. {NWDNS-342-USAF}.

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Organization Names (Advanced Search)

This filter provides you with a means to conduct an Advanced Search to find all descriptions in ARC that have specific Organizations associated with them.

To populate this filter, click on the corresponding "Lookup" button. This will take you to a search screen where you can enter a new keyword phrase to find the specific Organization Name(s) you want to use in your search. You may enter keywords following the standard keyword search syntax. Once you've found the Organization Name(s) you want to use, select them and return to the Advanced Search screen by clicking either on the "Paste Selected" or the "Paste All" buttons. The Organization Name(s) you've chosen will appear in the gray box on the Advanced Search screen.

Note: You may see Organization Names followed by the word USE. The Names in front of the word USE are other forms of an Organization's name and have not been associated with the descriptions. If you select and paste these non-preferred entries into the Advanced Search, the system will paste in the preferred Organization Name that follows the word USE.

Browsing enables you to search for an Organization by name alphabetically. To browse, click on one of the buttons containing a letter of the alphabet. This will take you to a page or the first page if multiple pages, that displays a list of Organizations that begin with the letter that was clicked.

When the "All Organizations" filter option is displayed, no Organization filter is applied to the search results. If you have pasted in Organization Name(s) and no longer wish to apply them as a filter, click the "Clear" button corresponding to the Organization Name(s) filter to return the selection to "All Organizations". You may also clear the entire search screen by clicking on the "Clear" button at the top of the Advanced Search screen.

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Person Names (Advanced Search)

This filter provides you with a means to conduct an Advanced Search to find all descriptions in ARC that have specific People associated with them.

To populate this filter, click on the corresponding "Lookup" button. This will take you to a search screen where you can enter a new keyword phrase to find the specific Person Name(s) you want to use in your search. You may enter keywords following the standard keyword search syntax. Once you've found the Person Name(s) you want to use, select them and return to the Advanced Search screen by clicking either on the "Paste Selected" or the "Paste All" buttons. The Person Name(s) you've chosen will appear in the gray box on the Advanced Search screen.

Note: You may see Person Names followed by the word USE. The Names in front of the word USE are other forms of a Person's name and have not been associated with the descriptions. If you select and paste these non-preferred entries into the Advanced Search, the system will paste in the preferred Person Name that follows the word USE.

Browsing enables you to search for a Person by name alphabetically. To browse, click on an alphabet button. This will take you to a page, or the first page of multiple pages, that displays a list of Person Names that begin with the letter that was clicked.

When the "Person Names" filter option is displayed, no Person Name(s) filter is applied to the search results. If you have pasted in Person Name(s) and no longer wish to apply them as a filter, click the "Clear" button corresponding to the Person Name(s) filter to return the selection to "All Person Names". You may also clear the entire search screen by clicking on the "Clear" button at the top of the Advanced Search screen.

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Topics (Advanced Search)

This filter provides you with a means to conduct an Advanced Search to find all descriptions in ARC that have specific Topics associated with them.

To populate this filter, click on the corresponding "Lookup" button. This will take you to a search screen where you can enter a new keyword phrase to find the specific Topic(s) you want to use in your search. You may enter keywords following the standard keyword search syntax. Once you've found the Topics you want to use, select them and return to the Advanced Search screen by clicking either on the "Paste Selected" or the "Paste All" buttons. The Topics you've chosen will appear in the gray box on the Advanced Search screen.

Note: You may see Topics followed by the word USE. The Topics in front of the word USE are synonyms/variants of a particular Topic and have not been associated with the descriptions. If you select and paste these non-preferred entries into the Advanced Search, the system will paste in the preferred Topic that follows the word USE.

Browsing enables you to search for a Topic by name alphabetically. To browse, click on an alphabet button. This will take you to a page, or the first page if multiple pages, that displays a list of Topics that begin with the letter that was clicked.

When the "All Topics" filter option is displayed, no Topics filter is applied to the search results. If you have pasted in Topic(s) and no longer wish to apply them as a filter, click the "Clear" button corresponding to the Topics filter to return the selection to "All Topics". You may also clear the entire search screen by clicking on the "Clear" button at the top of the Advanced Search screen.

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Sorting

Sorting allows you to rearrange your results by choosing one of the radio buttons. Sorting choices include Relevancy Ranking, Date, Creator, Location, or Record Group/ Collection.

The default sort is Relevancy Ranking, where results are displayed in descending order, most relevant to least relevant. Relevancy is based upon the number of times a keyword appears in a description, as well as its placement in the description.

If you choose to sort by Dates, descriptions with the earliest date will be displayed first.

If you choose to sort by Creator, descriptions will be displayed alphabetically by the Creator's name.

If you choose to sort by Location, descriptions will be displayed alphabetically by the name of the Location.

If you choose to sort by Record Group /Collection, descriptions will be displayed according to the Record Group or Collection to which they belong. Descriptions that are part of Record Groups will appear first in Record Group Number order and descriptions that are part of Collections will then appear alphanumerically in Collection Identifier order.

Select the type of sorting you desire by clicking on the associated radio button, then click the "Re-Sort" button.

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Advanced Search Tips for ARC