Quick Search
The Quick Search targets those areas of archival descriptions (finding aids) most likely to satisfy a general search. These areas include the title, subjects, biographical or historical information, scope and content information, and general notes. You may find that the "Quick Search" is the fastest way to find the information you need.
To enter a query, just select Quick Search on the Home page, type in a few descriptive words in the box and click the "Go" button for a list of relevant results. You can't use the Boolean operators "and" or "or" in Quick Search, so a search for 'Woodhead Chapel' would list all records which contain the terms 'Woodhead' or 'Chapel'. However, records which contain both terms together will appear at the top of the list, as these will be most likely to match your search. For an exact match use the "full text" search option in Advanced Search.
Browse Indexes
This option allows you to browse through subjects, titles, personal surnames etc. in alphabetical order. Simply choose the type of field to browse, enter your search term or starting letter in the box, and press the Return key or click the 'Browse' button to browse your term and those either side of it.
Subject Finder
Type a single word or simple phrase here, such as 'Missionaries' or 'World War Two'. A list of related index terms from the UNESCO and Library of Congress Subject Headings will appear. If you want to look for a more complex subject, such as 'Railways in Lancashire', you should go to the Advanced Search screen and combine your terms using the fields there.
Advanced Search
Combine fields (Boolean searches): You can combine two or more of the search fields listed below. Searching with "AND" will return results which match all of your search terms, while "OR" will give you a list of records which match any of your search terms.
Similar Search
This type of search is available when one or more collections have been found. By clicking on the 'Similar' link beneath the title of a record, you will be able to search for collections which are deemed similar to the original record by virtue of a shared author, subject keyword, location etc.
Search Fields
Please note that although all existing search fields are listed here, some fields may not be available for some search types.
Full text: This will look for your search terms in the entire text of the databases records, and will therefore be slower than the more targeted Quick Search.
Title of Collection: This will look for your search terms within the title of each record.
Surname: This searches the indexes for personal surnames.
Corporate Name: This searches the indexes for names of organisation.
Place name: Use this to search the place name indexes for a geographical location.
Epithet: This searches the indexes for personal epithets, such as Lord or Lady.
Subject: Use this to search each description's subject index terms or 'keywords', usually conforming to a widely used thesaurus, such as the UNESCO Thesaurus or Library of Congress Subject Headings. To see a list of headings that are related to your area of interest, try using the Subject Finder.
Date: You can search for date spans (e.g. "1923-1967") and single dates.
Reference Number: If you know the reference for a specific archive, you can retrieve it directly, e.g. "GB 0141 D.88". Please note that you can only search for collection level reference numbers, and that the beginning of the reference number must be present. e.g. a search for "GB 0141#" would find the record "GB 0141 D.88" amongst others (providing that such records exist) , but a search for "#0141 D#' would fail to return any results.
Displaying results
Displaying the results of a search is easy. On the left frame you will see a list of titles:
- Summary links to a brief description. This is designed to save time, because it means you will not have to download entire finding aids.
- The finding aid's title links to a full description. Multi-level finding aids include an expandable "table of contents", which links to the relevant parts of the finding aid.
- Email this: You can send a text only version of the archive description to yourself (or to someone else) via email. No graphics or other attachments are included. For longer catalogues this may involve a lot of text!
How can I narrow my search results?
You might wish to narrow your search. You can use the Advanced search screen to combine different sorts of searches.
Do I need to type in the whole word?
The Cheshire for Archives Software system automatically looks for variants of your search words. For example a search for "nurse" will retrieve finding aids containing "nurse", "nurses" and "nursing".
Does punctuation matter?
You don't need to use punctuation marks (such as an apostrophe ' or a comma ,) when searching. In fact, you will get better results if you just leave out the punctuation.
Do capital letters matter?
Cheshire for Archives searches are not case sensitive. A search for "polish" will find "Polish" - and also "polishing".
Any other search tips?
Don't use the words "and" or "or" in your search. The search software will take care of that for you.
Hypertext links for subject and name headings
The software also provides hypertext links for subject and name headings. You can browse the indexes, or you can follow the hypertext links to look at more descriptions with the same index term.
JavaScript Help
JavaScript is a programming language that is common on webpages, and is used in Cheshire for Archives websites for enhanced interactivity. For example, there are "pop-up" help windows on the search forms - but if you don't have JavaScript you can just follow the ordinary Help link.
We don't use JavaScript to collect information about you.
You can still use the site if you don't have JavaScript. Simply make sure you choose the No frames option when searching.
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