Searching with topics
Along with the simple search, the Archives Portal Europe's homepage offers you access to the archival material based on topics. These topics can cover aspects of content (Education, Justice, Economics etc), certain periods in time (Medieval period, First World War (1914-1918) etc) or the genre of the material (Charters, Maps, Photography etc). The topic cloud on the homepage shows 15 alternating topics, while a link below them ("View all our topics") leads to a separate page listing all topics that are currently connected to the archival material provided by our partners.
When clicking a topic you will be led to the relevant search results of archives linked to the topic of your choice. The search results will be displayed in the same way as after performing a simple search - that means in the list view - and you will have the usual options to refine the search results (see details for the "Search results" presentation here). The topic that you have selected will be highlighted and displayed directly beneath the search field (see number 1 in the screenshot below). There might also be further topics connected to the same material which will then be shown as normal refinement options (see number 2 in the screenshot below).
Tip: It is also possible to use search terms to make a query within a topic. Remove the * from the search box, type your keywords, and hit the search button. Remember to keep the topic button beneath the search box as is.
Topics are a way to combine archives from different countries and content providers based on a common theme or genre or time. Therefore, the topic term itself does not necessarily appear in the archives' descriptions, but there is a general relation between the archives and the topic. Note that topics are currently only connected to the archival material, which means they will only show in the tab "Search in archives". Switching to one of the other tabs will keep the search term, but it will lose all other content type related aspects of the search, including the topics.
