Footnote Search Tips (updated)

In general it is best to start with a simple search and then narrow using the categories and filters on the search results page.

By default, a search will look for results that match all your terms (except common words like an, and, of, etc.). The first results will be those where the terms you entered appear in the same field, for example a first and last name together in one annotation. After that, you'll see results that include matches from anywhere on the page.

A basic search will include some simple variations on words you include (e.g. president to presidents). To exclude the variations, place quotation marks around the words you would like to search exactly (e.g. "William" to exclude Williams from your results).

It's generally best to avoid putting quotation marks around a first and last name together ("Lawrence Williams"). This may exclude some matching results. When in doubt, try your search with and without quotes.

Matching terms may come from information we have indexed for the image or from Annotations, Spotlights, Comments or other information added by other Members.

If you don't get any results, try broadening your search by removing some of the terms. It's easy to narrow your results later using the categories and facets on the results page.

It's always a good idea to try your search with variant spellings to make sure you catch any errors in the records or in the index. You can use the asterisk (*) wildcard to replace any number of characters (e.g. Anders*n = Anderson, Andersen, Andersson, etc.)

At the top of the main column of the results page you'll find the number of matches for your search and your current search terms in the yellow box(es) with the option to add additional keywords. You can remove keywords from your search by clicking the x in the top right corner of the box that keyword is in.

Below these you'll find a list of your results, including thumbnails of matching images and information to help you decide which results will be helpful to you.

To go straight to an image or story page, click the thumbnail or the "View Image" button.

The information that matches your search, along with the source of the image or page, is listed to the right of the thumbnail.

If you need more information to evaluate an image, place your cursor over the result and then click the "Quick Look" button that appears. This will open the Quick Look window which includes a larger thumbnail of the image and all the information about that image from our index. Index information is always free on Footnote, so anyone can view the Quick Look.

Placing your cursor over a result also provides options to "Add to Gallery" (where you can store images to evaluate later or use on the site) and, if you are signed in, "Report an Error" in the index information.

In the left hand column of the search results page you'll find a list of categories you can use to narrow your results and get to the information you really want.

The real power of this new search is that the left hand column reflects information that is in results matching your search. The Place category is not just a generic list of places, but a list of places found in items that match your initial search. As a result, you can see specific information that is available for narrowing your search.

When your search results span several Titles or Collections, you'll see general categories that apply across all titles like, First Name, Last Name, Title or Collection, Year, Place, Result Type or Category, but as you narrow your results (especially if you choose a specific title) the available categories will become more specific. To see a good example of this, try a searching for a last name, then select Vietnam Veterans Memorial from the Title or Collection category and notice the categories in the left column.

Click on a category to open it and you'll see the top 100 keywords for that category listed with the number of results for each in parentheses. Type the keyword you'd like to add to your search in the box. As you type we'll start looking for matching terms. You can use the asterisk (*) wildcard to replace unknown characters in these category boxes (e.g. Anders*n = Anderson, Andersen, Andersson, etc.).

Once you find the term you'd like to add to your search, click it and you'll see it appear in a new yellow box at the top of the main column of the search results.  Your results list will be updated to include only items that match all your terms.

You can add multiple keywords from the categories to get just the results you want.

The "Result Type" category allows you to specify whether you want results from images, Story Pages or things that Footnote members have added like comments, connections or Spotlights.

With the "Category" category you can limit your search to a group of related titles.