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.
  Americus and church	records with both of these words	[View results of sample search]
  Albany and public and school*	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.
  hospital or church	records with either or both these words	[View results of sample search]
  elec* or util* or light*	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.
  Athens not 1913	records with Athens that don't contain 1913	[View results of sample search]
  ice not coal	records with ice that don't contain coal	[View results of sample search]

You can also group search terms together to create more complex searches by using parentheses.