National Park Service

Collage symbolizing NPS collections, including Zuni pot, David T. Vernon Arts Collection, Grand Teton National Park. Storm flag from Fort Sumter, Fort Sumter National Monument. Butterfly, Giant Swallowtail, Papilio cresphontes, Everglades National Park. Panel truck (Jesup agricultural wagon), Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site. Ginger beer bottle, Gettysburg National Military Park

Help

Click on the desired HELP topic:

BROWSE

Use BROWSE when you want to explore the entire park cultural resources or natural history database. BROWSE allows you to start looking at the entire database from a particular letter, group of letters, or word, such as 'A,' 'arr,' or 'arrow.' If BROWSE doesn't find an exact match of the letter, group of letters or word you entered, it will go to the nearest match. For example, if you entered 'brac' and there isn't a word beginning with 'brac,' it will go to the nearest match, such as 'brad.'

BROWSE allows you to sort [organize] your results by several different criteria. You can see the entire database organized by:

all cultural resources disciplines [archeology, history and ethnology] or
all natural history disciplines [biology, geology and paleontology] or
a specific discipline.

Once you've selected the discipline[s], you then can choose to see:

only those records with associated images in the database or
all records organized by object name/title, artist/maker, eminent figure, manufacture date or catalog number.

Click on the orange link from the BROWSE results page to go to a detailed record with expanded information on a particular item.

SEARCH

Use SEARCH when you want to find selected records that contain a specific word [keyword] or group of words. This function will SEARCH all records and all fields in either the cultural resources, natural history or 'all parks' databases. SEARCH will pull only those records that contain the word or group of words that you entered. For example, if you want to find all the baskets in a park collection, enter basket. You can refine your search by using a wildcard [*] search, or, and, to, or not as described in the examples on the Word Search screen and as noted below:

*(wildcard): Use the wildcard to make your search as general as possible. For example, 'fac*' will find 'face', 'facade', 'factory', 'faculty', etc. By entering 'B*'you will find every record that contains a word starting with the letter 'B.' This search will return a very large number of records. In this case you might prefer to use BROWSE.
or: Use or when searching for 'dog' or 'cat' to find all the records that contain 'dog', 'cat', or both terms.
and: Use and when you want to find the fewest number of items. For example, 'dog' and 'cat' will only find records that contain both terms
to: Use to to search for a range of dates or other numeric values. 1959 to 1962 will retrieve all records that include the years 1959, 1960, 1961, and 1962. Especially useful with the DATES field on the Advanced Search page.

Note: To search a park's cultural resources database, select the Cultural Resources SEARCH option. To search a park's natural history database, select the Natural History SEARCH option. You won't find natural history specimens when doing a cultural resources search. Similarly, you won't find cultural resources items when doing a natural history search. However, when you select the 'All Parks' option in the global 'Search All Parks' mode, a SEARCH retrieves information from all park cultural resources and natural history databases housed in the Web Catalog.

Click on the orange link from the SEARCH results page to go to a detailed record with expanded information on a particular item.

ADVANCED SEARCH

Use ADVANCED SEARCH when you have a specific item, place, person, or description in mind. This function will search only those fields that are noted below the entry box. For example, if you enter information in the 'item' box, the Web Catalog will search only the object name/title and catalog number fields in the database. If you enter information in the 'Places' box, it will search only Place of Manufacture, State, and City fields in the database.

Note: There are two separate ADVANCED SEARCH screens, one for Cultural Resources and the other for Natural History. Searching in one will not find any items in the other.

Click on the orange link from the ADVANCED SEARCH results page to go to a detailed record with expanded information on a particular item.

DATES

Because dates are entered into park databases in various formats, you may have to do several search queries to find the records and information you need. However, following some of these guidelines should facilitate your searches:

If looking for a date range, such as all items from the 1800s, enter '18*'. Using the wildcard [*] allows you to retrieve all records that contain '18.' Using c., C., or circa isn't recommended.
You will have best results if you enter a specific date.

THEMES

The THEME listing in 'Select All Parks' lets you search across park databases that are on-line in the Web Catalog. It combines NPS cultural resources and natural resources themes. Parks have identified their collections with specific themes. When you select a theme, your query will search only those parks associated with that theme. If you select 'All Parks,' your query will search all on-line park databases. To receive the largest number of results, use the 'All Parks' option when doing a search.

WHAT'S IN THE COLLECTION?

If you're not sure what to look for in a particular park database, use this function to see a list of every object or specimen name in the Web Catalog. If you review this list before you do a search, you'll save time. You won't be looking for 'musket' if the park only has 'paintings' in its database.

Click on the orange link from the list results page to go to a detailed record with expanded information on a particular item.