ARC Web Tips
Have suggestions? Need help? E-mail arc@nara.gov.
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1. Type in your keyword search. 2. Press Go to start your search. 3. Press Clear to reset the search options to their default settings. 4. Click Search Tips or Help if you want to learn more about how to search ARC. 5. Click on any hyperlinked text for definitions or specific search tips. |
6-14. Use these filters to narrow your keyword search. Or, set a filter and press Go to find everything within that filter. For example, find all artifacts at the Ronald Reagan Library that have been described in ARC. 10-14. To set these filters, you must press the Lookup button. This leads to another search screen that looks for specific Collections, Record Groups, People, Organizations, or Topics. 15. Use if you want to search for identifiers only, such as old control numbers. 16. Press one of the alphabet letters if you want to browse all available terms. |
The ARC Basic Search lets you conduct keyword searches with basic filters.
The ARC Advanced Search lets you conduct keyword searches with additional filters.
The Organization, Person, and Subject Index Searches work the same way - you can keyword search or browse. Your results can be selected and pasted into Advanced Search.
Keyword Searching
| Search Phrase | Finds | Examples |
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| Truman | finds the keyword anywhere in a description | Harry Truman, Truman Capote |
| Harry Truman | finds keywords within 5 words of each other | Harry Truman, Harry S. Truman, Deborah Harry talks with Truman Capote |
| Harry AND Truman | finds both keywords anywhere in a description | Harry S. Truman, Harry Smith discusses foreign affairs with President Truman |
| Harry OR Truman | finds either one or the other keyword anywhere in a description | Harry Truman, President Truman, Deborah Harry, Truman Capote |
| Truman NOT Harry | finds the first keyword, but will not find a description if it contains the second keyword | Truman Capote, President Truman, but not Harry S. Truman |
| {Harry S. Truman} | finds the exact phrase "Harry S. Truman" | Harry S. Truman, but not Harry Truman |
| wright AND (orville OR wilbur) | finds searches in parenthesis first | Orville Wright, Wilbur Wright |
| departmen% | finds variations at the end of words | department, departmental, departmentalization |
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Punctuation
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Helpful Hints
| Want to select more than 1 filter option? Set the first option, then press the Control Key and simultaneously click/scroll with the mouse to select other options. |
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Exactly 100 hits? More descriptions are probably available. Reset the search limits to 1,000 and try again. |
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| Want to limit your search to digitized images available on-line? Check the box. You will get a special Digital Search Results page that shows thumbnail images. |
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| You can limit a search for archival materials that fall into a specific date range. |
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ARC Search Results Highlights
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