The Advanced Search Tool can be found on our Digital Collections Site.
Step 1: Locate the search bar at the top of the page and click "Advanced Search" below the box to the left of the magnifying glass icon
Step 2: Deselect the "Select All Collections" box from the list titled "Advanced Search Collections" and instead select the "University Libraries Archival Services Digital Collections" box, then hit "Save"
Step 3: Determine whether you want to search in all fields or selected fields. There is also a bar below the "Enter Search Term" section where you can "Enter Date" and search by a date or date range.
We recommend searching in "All fields" for most searches.
If you wish to search within a specific collection, you will select "Source" from this drop-down menu and input the name of the collection. We recommend using "Exact Phrase" as your search type when doing this. Below is a list of collection names to help narrow your search:
81st Fighter Squadron
9th Air Force Association
Alan “AirshipAl” Gross Collection
Alvin Coe Voris Letters, 1860-1865
American Legion Post 209
Archives of the Ninth Air Force Association
B-26 Marauder Archives
Buddies of the Ninth Association
Dales Family Collection
Daniel Guggenheim Airship Institute Records
Finding Aids
Frank B. Baldwin Papers
George D. Vallen Letters
Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company Records
John J. Polsley Papers
John S. Knight Papers
Jorgen Petersen Diaries
Joseph Sailor Letters, 1858-1894
Louis Baus Canal Photograph Collection
Opie Evans Papers
Preliminary Inventories
Sidney Edgerton Papers, 1946-1901
Talalay Foam Rubber Archive
The Buchtel Newspaper Record
The Buchtelite Records
The University of Akron Sesquicentennial Oral History Project
Thelbert H. Thomas
Theodore J. “Ted” Dettling Collection, 1827-1983
University Libraries Special Collections
University of Akron History books
University of Akron Photographs
University of Akron Tel-Buch Collection
University Postcards
William McCollam Papers, 1858-1897
Step 4: If you want to narrow your search further, you can select the "add row" to allow for the input of additional search terms.
Step 5: Once you have selected to add a row, you have the option of choosing the connector "and" or "or" between your two search terms. "And" will bring up search results that included both terms (ex. Zippy AND Mascot), "or" will bring up search results that include either term (ex. Blimp OR Balloon).
Step 6: To build a more accurate search, utilize the search types that are offered. These are visible in the drop down menu at the end of the Search Term bar.
All of the Words:
Searches for all of the words written in the bar in any order. Imagine the word "and" between each word in the bar (ex. President AND Dominic AND Guzzetta) but do not type the word "and" into the bar unless you wish to see results including the word "and." The search results will only include items that contain all of the terms that you wrote in the bar, in any order.
Any of the Words:
Searches for any of the words that you entered into the search bar. Imagine the word "or" between each word in your search bar (ex. President OR Dominic OR Guzzetta), but do not type the word "or" into your search bar unless you want it included in your search results. This search method will bring up results that include only one word from your search bar (ex. you would get results that only included the word "President").
Exact Phrase:
Searches for all of the words in the search bar in their exact order. This works similarly to using quotation marks around a phrase in other search engines. (Ex. if you searched for President Dominic Guzzetta this way, you would only see results for these words in this exact order. You would not see results that only referred to Dominic Guzzetta or President Guzzetta).
None of the Words:
This method allows you to exclude a word or words from your search results. Imagine the word "not" in front of the words (ex. NOT President), but do not type the word "not" into the search bar unless you want it included in the results. This search type is particularly useful when paired with other rows that utilize other search types (ex. in the None of the Words bar you typed "President" and in the Exact Phrase bar you typed "Dominic Guzzetta". This would provide search results that only included information about Dominic Guzzetta when he was not president).
Step 7: If you wish to narrow your search by date, in addition to the search terms above, use the "Enter Date" box at the bottom of the page. Here is a drop-down menu where you can choose to search on, after, or before a specific date, or between a range of dates. if you select "between" another search box will pop up so you can enter the earlier date in the first box and the later date in the second box. Be sure to follow the date entering format described below the search bar.
Step 8: Now you are ready to search! Navigate to the blue "Search" button in the bottom left of the page and click.
