The Ethnology collection database Basic Search works much like today's popular Internet search engines. Simply type in one or more words that describe what you're looking for, and click the Search button. The results page lists objects in the Ethnology Collection that contain that word or phrase, in order of relevance. Here are some tips on using the Search.

If you type in more than one word into Basic Search, you'll get only those objects that have BOTH those terms in their description. So, adding search terms is a good way to narrow your search if your initial term generates more results than you want.

It's best to start with a fairly general term, and narrow down from there. For example, if you type in "basket" you'll get a list of more than 4,000 objects in the collection. To narrow your search, do a new search this time adding another word. A search on "Berry basket" generates around 100 returns. Narrow your search further, to, say "Cowlitz berry basket" and you get a half-dozen objects.

The Basic Search looks at ALL data fields for your search term. For example, if you type in "Brown", you get objects made by artist Steve Brown, you get objects from Brown County in North Dakota, and you get objects for which the color brown is listed in the object's "material/technique" description.

The search is not case-sensitive.

The Advanced Search lets you choose which data field(s) the search will look at, to the exclusion of other data fields.

For example, if you want to find objects made by artist Steve Brown, type "Brown" into the "made by" field and click the Search button. You get only those object produced by artists whose name is "Brown"—and NOT all the objects that are brown in color or from Brown County, ND.

In "Ethnology Archives" search you can search the Burke Ethnology division's online database of historical photography, in particular more than 800 photographs of Northwest Coast totem poles taken by Adelaide de Menil in the 1960s. This database will be growing in size as we add many more photographs from the Burke's Ethnology archives over the next few months as part of our Totem Pole Web site project, The Enduring Power of Totem Poles. This new Web feature, slated to go live in summer of 2005, will include historical photographs from the Bill Holm and George MacDonald photo collections.

If you already know the Burke identification number for the object you seek, this is a quick way to find that object's record in the collection database.

Return to Collection Search page.