The UT Tyler Libraries Catalog includes circulating books, reference books, books on microfilm and microfiche, state documents, and thousands of e-books.
“A primary source is firsthand testimony or direct evidence concerning a topic under investigation. The nature and value of a source cannot be determined without reference to the topic and questions it is meant to answer. The same document, or other piece of evidence, may be a primary source in one investigation and secondary in another. The search for primary sources does not, therefore, automatically include or exclude any category of records or documents.” (Yale University Library)
Primary sources may include diaries, letters, speeches, interviews, autobiographies, personal narratives, eyewitness accounts, memoirs, or government documents. They may be published or unpublished, printed or handwritten, on microfilm or fiche or online.
Start your search in the UT Tyler catalog with a subject or keyword subject, then enter one of the following words as a separate subject, then click on search.
Sources [will pull up collections of documents]
Diaries
Correspondence
Interviews
Personal narratives
You may also want to try for certain keywords in the title, usually the subtitle, such as "documentary history," "letters," or "papers." You will almost certainly get some false hits, but you can weed through them.
The first three titles are available to currently enrolled students, staff, and faculty at UT Tyler, or to patrons who visit on-site. We do not have a subscription to the last title, so those interested in it will need to visit a major university library such as those listed below.
If you're still not sure of a topic for your paper, look around in the stacks and see what books we have.
The books on Great Britain that can be checked out are on the third floor of the library, and most are between call numbers DA360 and DA463, although the colonies will be scattered.
DA377-DA378 Biographies
DA385 Early Stuarts
DA391 James I, 1603-1625
DA395 Charles I, 1625-1649
DA400-DA429 Civil War, 1642-1649
DA430 Later Stuarts
DA440 Charles II, 1660-1685
DA450 James II, 1685-1688
DA460 William and Mary, 1689-1702
E186-E199 American colonial history
F1001-F1140 Canadian history
F1601-1629 West Indies history
G200-G336 History of discoveries, explorations, and travel
G521-G531 Adventures, shipwrecks, buried treasure, etc.
G540-G550 Seafaring life, ocean travel, etc.
HF486 East India Company