The Library of Congress
Search Tips
Simple Search Strategies
Tips for New Users
Tips for Precision Searching
Choosing Search Words
Using Special Characters
Searching Textual Collections
Bibliographic Record Search Options
Full Text Search Options
How are the Results Listed?
Note: The search engine used on the American Memory database is currently licensed from Chiliad Publishing Incorporated.
Tips for New Users
Searching can be as simple as typing one or more words into the query box and clicking the SEARCH button.
It is wise to use as few options as possible until you are sure that you need to be more specific.
Too Many Hits Returned
- Use more specific subjects. (See the Synonym List.)
- Important terms can be found in the Subject Lists available from most collection home pages. These lists will link to searches for related records within that collection.
- Links to searches for related Subjects and Authors may be found from inside the bibliographic records. The list returned will include related
records found for all collections that were included in your original search request.
Too Few Hits Returned
- Add more synonyms or use broader subjects. (See the Synonym List.)
- Important terms found in the Subject Lists available from most collection home pages. These lists will link to searches for related records within that collection.
- Links to searches for related Subjects and Authors may be found from inside the bibliographic records. The list returned will include related
records found for all collections that were included in your original search request.
- Use older language in use at the time the collection materials were created. Language changes. For example, the following historical terms will produce more results than their modern day counterparts:
Modern Usage |
Historical Usage |
gas, service station |
filling station |
African American |
Afro American, Negro |
voting rights |
suffrage |
- Use the names of towns, landmarks, bridges, and buildings as they were used at the time the collection materials were created. These names change.
Formatting Search Words
- Common words, such as, and, not, or the are ignored.
- Case of letters is ignored. (For example Civil and civil are treated the same.)
- Use plain unaccented English letters in place of accented letters. Diacritic characters (characters with accents) and the following special characters will produce unintended results: # @ ( )
When Searching for a Phrase
- When searching for a phrase, enter the words in the order in which they are most likely to occur in the text or bibliographic records being searched.
- The order in which you enter your search words does not affect which records appear in the search results, but it will affect the order of their display.
- The list of records returned to you is arranged in order of relevance to your search words, with the "exact match" for your phrase listed first.
When Searching Textual Collections
Choose a Bibliographic Record Search for finding:
- A specific item by title or digital ID
- Works by an author, creator or publisher
- Works about general subjects
- Works whose central theme is about a person, place or event.
Choose a Full Text Search for finding:
- Concepts or ideas not defined by one subject term
- A person, place, or event that is not central to the main theme
- Very specific topics
See How to Use a Pull
Down Menu if this is your first time using this type of display.
For more detailed information, see Tips for Precision Searching
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