Search
You can search the Archive in a number of ways. If you know the name of the person, simply enter it below and click search. If you wish to search all the interviews collected on a particular theme or sub-theme, select your choice and click search. If you wish to search using a keyword, for example: Lancaster or corvette, enter that word in the keywords field and click search.
Further information on how to use the search facility
Search by Theme and Sub-Theme
Searching within themes and sub-themes using the pull-down menus allows you to quickly narrow in on only the most relevant interviews. For example, searching for interviews that refer to Tobruk - If you select from the pull down menus > World War II > Tobruk, the return results will only be from within that theme and sub-theme.
Search by Keywords
For best results, it's important to choose your keywords wisely. Try the obvious first. If you are looking for interviews about Lancaster bombers, enter "Lancaster" rather than "planes". To return results that include any of your search terms, tick the check box.
Automatic Exclusion of Common Words
We ignore common words and characters such as "where" and "how", as well as all single digits and single letters, because they tend to slow down your search without improving the results. Another method for doing this is conducting a phrase search, which simply means putting quotation marks around two or more words. Common words in a phrase search (e.g., "where are you") are included in the search. For example, to search for Lancaster Bombers use "Lancaster Bombers"
Capitalisation
Our searches are NOT case sensitive. For example, searches for "lancaster bombers", "LANCASTER Bombers", and "LanCaster BomBers" will all return the same results.
