What is it?
Texas Archival Resources Online (TARO) is a freely accessible platform for searching finding aids from repositories across Texas (see https://txarchives.org/home). The scope of primary source material available on TARO is as historically-rich and diverse as the state itself, including:
- Manuscripts of world-renowned artists & literary figures
- Records documenting Spanish Colonial Texas
- Film footage of the environmental & economic impacts of natural disasters
- Field recordings of Texas folk music traditions
- Photographs documenting major events of the Civil Rights Movement
Who uses it?
July 2018 statistics show that most researchers come from the United States, but also hail from Germany, China, South Korea, France, Vietnam, Great Britain, Ukraine, Russian Federation, and Canada. TARO is the central, and sometimes only, online research tool for member repositories, with archives using it many thousands of times each year to assist researchers. Usage statistics are available for the Legacy site and the redesigned website (TARO 2.0 stats).
TARO has proven a rich resource for a wide variety of researchers including:
- Historians
- Archivists
- Genealogists
- Documentarians
- Educators
- Students
- Artists
Who contributes to TARO?
Participating institutions include over 80 Texas repositories. Here are a few:
- African American Library at the Gregory School
- Texas State Library and Archives
- Southern Methodist University
- Texas A&M University
- Rice University
- Austin History Center
- Old Jail Art Center
- Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center
How does the TARO Steering Committee work?
- See the Governance Plan
