Postal History Help Page

The search page provides you with several ways to search, and allows you to combine multiple searches at once, resulting in a very focused results page. Most search methods are self-explanatory, such as county and ad cover topics, however some require some explanation.

TYPING IN SEARCH CRITERIA
When you use any of the text-based search methods (where you type in a word or phrase), the site will look for any occurences of that word or phrase. For instance, a search for "ed" in the wildcard search field will match all of these names: Ed, Edward, Leed, Feder. The fewer characters you type in, the more matches you will likely find.

SEARCHES ARE NOT CASE-SENSITIVE
It does not matter if you use upper or lower case letters when typing in search data. The search engine ignores the difference between upper and lower case letters.

NARROWING YOUR FOCUS
When you combine two or more search methods, you narrow the focus of your search. Selecting "California" from the keyword list and "Ad Agency" from the ad cover topics list will result in only ad agencies from California being matched. If your search results in no matches, try using fewer search methods. If your search results in too many matches, try using more search methods.

KEYWORD SEARCHES
To select a keyword, just click once on that keyword. To select a second keyword, hold down your control key (command key if you are using a Macintosh) and click the second keyword. Using the scroll bar to find keywords quickly. Typing a letter will jump to that letter in the list, but will also select that item.

WILDCARD SEARCH FIELD
The wildcard search field is special. It is a universal text-based search field, because it searches all fields in my database. It will look for matches in the keywords, county, ad cover topics, etc.

ORDER NUMBER SEARCH FIELD
The order number search field looks for specific orders in my catalog. This is mostly useful for identifying a specific item if you want to find it at a later date, or if I am directly referencing an item to you.

START WITH ORDER NUMBER SEARCH FIELD
This search field matches all records starting with the order number you enter up to the last order number that exists.

RECENT ENTRIES SEARCH FIELD
This is a special search field that will match all items that have been entered into my inventory since the date you enter. This may be used to find what has been added to my inventory since your last visit to my web site. To make this process very easy and to receive automatic notification about new items added to my inventory please use my want list signup system.