You can use keywords that denote personal experiences from the time period. For example, you could check for someone's autobiography, letters, diaries, etc.
If one searches for women and diaries and pioneers, one will retrieve several books containing diaries.
One can use Library of Congress Subject Headings to browse subjects and identify primary sources. Some of the subheadins are:
Sources
Personal narratives
Correspondence
Anecdotes Manuscripts
Archives
Papers
Newspapers
Pictorial Works
Cartoons
Interviews
Sources is a particularly important one that follows topics, events, etc.
