Digital Teaching Collections (Special Collections)

Please view the videos below for information on how to use the Digital Teaching Collections for your primary source research.    

The format of a citation for an item within a digital collection will depend on the style manual being used. Citations should provide as much information as possible to lead other researchers to the source being cited. In general, a citation for an item in UT’s digital collections should include the following:

• Creator

• Date of Creation

• Object / Item / Image Title

• Collection Name

• Repository Name

• Date Accessed

• Citable URL

Click below to practice navigating the collections:

Practice Quiz

Asking some basic questions about a primary source allows us to uncover what the source is telling us about the past, helping us to gather support for what happened and why.  

• What type of document is it (letter, photograph, receipt, map, etc.)?
• Who created this document?
• When was it created? How do you know that?
• Who is the original audience? 
• Do you notice any unique physical characteristics? Writing in the margins, signatures, notes, smudges, tears, etc.?
• What is the information/content that the document contains or presents?
• What questions, ideas, or problems does the material suggest?   
• What insights does the item give you about the time period in which it was created? 
• Why do you think that Special Collections has kept this document?