Searching the Missouri Historical Society's Online Collections

Text entered into the search field returns all results that contain those words in the title, description, or other related fields. However, this approach pulls very broadly. For instance, a search for Thomas Jefferson would return results pertaining to Thomas Easterly or Jefferson Avenue.

Adding quotation marks to a search will refine a multi-word keyword search to only records that contain those exact words, "Thomas Jefferson" with quotation marks will return only results relating to Thomas Jefferson, but this may exclude pertinent references to Jefferson or Tom Jefferson in other records.

The use of an asterisk after a word will return all variations of that initial word. Jeff* returns Jeff, Jefferson, JeffVanderLou, etc. Alternately, searches for fireman and firemen might not directly overlap, but firem* would return both.

The content in the tabs above the search results, and often the information found in the fields listed with each record, can be selected to return results for only records that share that particular quality. Selecting the decade facet for 1920-1929 would return only results from the 1920s. Then selecting additional facets such as St. Louis and Photographs would return a list of results containing photographs of St. Louis in the 1920s. Selected facets appear above the facet tabs and can be added or removed to change the search results.

Once a facet is selected, it can be toggled as positive or negative by pressing the plus or minus sign that appears next to it. The plus corresponds to a requirement, and the minus excludes that facet from the search results. In the above example, toggling 1920-1929 to a minus would return all St. Louis photographs not from the 1920s.

Refine your search further by combining keywords with the modifiers AND, NOT, and OR, typed in uppercase, to include or exclude certain search terms. Boolean searches may include wildcard and/or phrase searches and may be used in combination with facets.

Use AND between keywords to return only the search results that include both terms: Jefferson AND Market
Use NOT to exclude a term: Kiel NOT Auditorium
Use OR to broaden your search by including multiple terms: fair NOT (1904 OR world*)
Use “+” or “-” to force the inclusion or exclusion of a certain keyword: public -school*
Use parentheses to build a more complex search: "christmas tree" NOT (decorat* OR ornament*)

The default way to view search results is the details view, which provides a title and description next to a thumbnail for each record. The other views prioritize different aspects of the search results: the thumbnail view returns only images, the grid view returns images and titles, and the list view returns titles and descriptions but no images.

Selecting the trash can icon clears the search field of any keywords entered and any selected facets. The result view does not change.

The physical collections far surpass the online collections. For this reason, search results may provide references to materials only viewable in person. A collection record may indicate that there are fifteen boxes, but only seven will be discoverable online, or a folder may contain five photographs while only one is online. Similarly there are very often records without corresponding digital content. In these cases, it is best to contact the Library & Research Center or visit in person.