Boolean Operators
Boolean operators or connectors can be used to improve your search results. When using either the simple or advanced search, you can use either AND, OR, or NOT. You can also group them together.
AND narrows a search. It is the default search method used in the simple search.
This search ... ... would find ... these results. flower and exhibit records with both of these words [View results of sample search] Georgia and fair and air* records with all three of these words and their variants [View results of sample search] OR broadens a search.
This search ... ... would find ... these results. flower or exhibit records with either or both these words [View results of sample search] sew* or air* records with any combination of these words or their variants [View results of sample search] NOT eliminates terms from a search.
This search ... ... would find ... these results. crowd not midway records with crowd that don't contain midway [View results of sample search] cotton not can* records with cotton that don't contain variants of can [View results of sample search]
You can also group search terms together to create more complex searches by using parentheses.
| This search ... | ... would find ... | these results. |
| cotton and corn or sewing | records with cotton and corn or records with sewing | [View results of sample search] |
| cotton and (corn or sewing) | records with cotton and corn or records with cotton and sewing | [View results of sample search] |