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Finding Photos in the International Missionary Photography Archive

The purpose of this guide is to provide tips and techniques in searching the USC Digital Library to find photographs in the International Missionary Photography Archive

Advance Search

The advanced search on the home page can be found in the search box. It looks like stitching or equalizer bars. 

When you click on it, this box comes up.

Advanced search box IMPA

Free text allows you to combine your conditions with a free text search of the entire record plus any associated full text. 

Exact text is a controlled vocabulary search when you don't know what field/tag to use. 

Exclude exact free text works like a Boolean NOT. If a record contains the text it will not be returned as part of the results set. 

The most important functionality is the second search box from the top. Click on the button "Add condition" When you click on the down arrow under Conditions, you will get this popup that contains all of the searchable fields for the Digital Library. 

Advanced Search box with conditions box opened

Some common searches 

Author, Photographer Creator
Location/Place Place Name 
Subject Subject
Date of document, photo Date created