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Browser Requirements

Crossroadstofreedom.org is optimized for Firefox browser. Internet Explorer 6 and later are also supported. Flash 8 player or later is required to view objects.

Using Advanced Search

You may narrow your search by specifying terms for one or more of the following fields.

Author. Person who created,Â contributed to the content, or make the object available to the collection [Creator, Contributor, Source]
Keyword. Word or words present in the description or transcript of an object [Description, Transcript, Subject]
Subject Heading. Library of Congress heading assigned to an object [LC Heading]
Date. Creation date or dates covered by the material [Date Original, Temporal Coverage]
Transcript. Words included in the transcript only. This field may not be searched in combination with others.

Wild card searches: You also may search using the "wild card" of a term followed by an *. (Example: 195* to find any date between 1950 and 1959).

Browsing Objects
Use the Browse menu to get an overview of objects available in the collection. You may choose to see objects that pertain to specified dates, names of people, places or subjects. After you choose a browse type from the Browse menu dropdown, you'll see a list of sub-topics, as well as objects. Click a sub-topic to see objects pertaining to only it.

Viewing Objects

Once you have chosen a collection to view, chosen a topic to browse, or conducted a search for objects, you can view a particular object by clicking on it. A thumbnail of that object will appear on the left hand side of your screen, with the title and description underneath it. Click on "Full Screen View" to see the object in its entirety. The object will appear in a new window and from there you will have the option of viewing a transcript of the object by clicking on the "Transcript and Notes" tab at the top of the viewer window.

Creating Citations and Printing Objects

You may save information for citations by clicking the "More Information" button in the object preview pane to generate a PDF. You also may print an object transcript with citation information included by clicking "Print Object." Please be mindful of our terms of usage.

Membership and Logging in

Currently, membership has been granted to a test group of Memphis-area teachers. To request a membership, contact crossroads-admin@rhodes.edu. Once you have received a username and password, log in using the link at the top right of any page.

Creating and Managing a Collection

Collections may be created by logged in members only. Once you have logged in, you'll see a "My Collections" link on the far right side of the page. Use the "Create New Collection" button to assign a name and description to a new collection. Check the box in the "Make Public" column to allow other visitors to the site to view your collection.

Adding Objects. Once you have created one or more collections, you may add objects to them when you are logged in. In the object preview pane, use the "Add to Collection" button (visible only when logged in). You will be prompted to specify a collection by choosing from a dropdown list of your collections.
Deleting Objects. To delete an object from a collection, use the "Delete" button. You must access the object from within your collection in order to see the delete option.

Using Full Screen View

All objects may be viewed in detail by clicking the "Full Screen View" button in the object preview pane.

Video. Use the transparent control bar on the video pane to pause, stop, play, move forward and back or adjust volume. Videos are divided into parts, like chapters, and each part is divided into sections. You may jump to any part or section by clicking in the left-hand column.
Image. Use the transparent control bar on the image pane to zoom in, zoom out or pan (move around in) and image. Click the "Transcript and Notes" tab for a description of that image.
Text and books. Use the transparent control bar on the text pane to zoom in, zoom out, pan or move among text pages. You can also view the transcript in by clicking the "Transcript and Notes" tab. By clicking an item on the table of contents, you will jump directly to that page in the image or transcript.

Locating Transcripts

Transcripts of all materials including text are available in the "Transcript" pane of the full screen viewer.

Advanced Features (for users with logins)

Adding Notes to Items in Collections

Once you have an existing collection, you can add notes to items. This is a way to include your own comments, questions for your students, or additional information for those who view your collections.

Go to the "My Collections" page and click on the title of the collection you want to view.
Click on the item in that collection to which you wish to add notes, and go to "Full Screen View" for that item.
Once in the viewer, navigate to the page to which you wish to add notes. For a video, stop the video at that point.
Click on the "View Transcripts and Notes" tab, if you aren't already there.
In the Notes area at the bottom of the pane, click on the "Edit Notes" button.
If you have not already, select the item in the left hand Table of Contents to associate the note with.
Fill in a short title for the note in the top field, and a the note itself in the lower field.
Click "Save Note."
Please note -- you will not see your note until after you close the viewer window then return to that window. The note Title will appear in the Table of Contents, along with the existing contents. You will be able to view the note from the "View Transcript and Notes" tab.