Use the Catalog Search option on the UW Libraries homepage to find primary sources about a person or event. Search using some of the keywords that describe your subject in combination with one or more of the following terms:
- personal narratives
- manuscripts
- indexes
- letters
- archives
- bibliography
- correspondence
- records
- catalogs
- diaries
- documents
- guides
- memoirs
- sources
- thesis
- travelers
- papers of...
- travelers' writings
Example: immigrants and (letters or correspondence or diaries)
Search Tips:
“And” narrows your results.
“Or” is more and is used primarily with synonyms or related terms. Best to put “or” terms in parentheses.
Truncation: A search term can be shortened by using a * as a truncation symbol. This allows one search to retrieve singular or plural forms, different spellings of a word or name, or different forms of a word. However, this may widen your search too much so use it carefully.
For example: travel* will retrieve: travel, travels, traveler, traveller, travelers, travellers, traveling, traveled