HistoryMakers uses special characters to allow for advanced searching.
Typing two keywords into a search box will retrieve oral histories that include both of these keywords.
Example: A search for segregated hospitals will retrieve oral histories that include both of these keywords.
Using quotes around a phrase allows you to search for the exact phrase
Example: A search for "segregated hospitals" will retrieve oral histories that mention this specific two-word phrase (in this case, the name of the hospital where Dr. John Coleman worked).
The “pipe” or vertical bar symbol allows you to search for oral histories that include one or both words in your search
Example: A search for physician | doctor retrieves all oral histories that mention the word physician or the word doctor (or both words)
In many databases, the Boolean operator OR works the same way that the “pipe” or vertical bar symbol works in HistoryMakers.
Use the asterisk * as a wildcard to search for all forms of a word.
Example: A search for integrat* retrieves oral histories containing words beginning with integrat, such as integration, integrate, and integrated
Use the minus sign - before a keyword term to negate or not search the term
Example: A search for polio -vaccine retrieves oral histories that mention polio, and do not mention vaccine
Bring it all together: The following search
medic* "Howard University" + (physician | doctor)
would retrieve oral histories about medicine that mention Howard University and either the term physician or doctor could issue: