Smithsonian Institution The William Steinway Diary: 1861-1896
Steinway & Sons Records and Family Papers, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Searching the Diary
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You may wish to search for a specific Diary date. When entering the date, use either the format 1868-04-15 or April 15, 1868, for example. You can also use the calender by selecting a month and year from the drop-down menu, you must click on a number and then "view" to be taken to the page.
When searching the diary, this Web site first attempts to locate entries, annotations and images that match all the terms of your search such as date range; it also attempts to find results that match some of your search keywords and if necessary expands your search keywords to find similar terms within a pre-determined threshold. For example if you're searching for "horse" the Web site will also look for results containing "horses."
Results are ranked based on the frequency of the keyword within the text as well as that keyword's proximity to other keywords.
The Web site also accepts a variety operators to help tailor your search terms:
Quotation Marks, "Papa Cassebeer"
Wrapping your search with quotation marks will tell the Web site to prioritize results where the terms occur within 5 words of one another, and lower the priority of results where the terms are further apart.
Using a Negative or - Symbol, Papa -Cassebeer
You may want to use a negative operator or - symbol before certain keywords in your search to help the Web site filter your results. Keywords prefixed a - symbol will tell the Web site to exclude results containing that word. In this example the Web site will focus on results containing the word "papa" but not the word "cassebeer."
You may wish to search for a specific Diary date. When entering the date, use either the format 1868-04-15 or April 15, 1868, for example. You can also use the calender by selecting a month and year from the drop-down menu, you must click on a number and then "view" to be taken to the page.
