Planning Research at the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory and Don’t Forget your Cowboy Boots

Author(s): Marybeth Tomka; Lauren Bussiere

Year: 2019

Summary

This is an abstract from the "How to Conduct Museum Research and Recent Research Findings in Museum Collections: Posters in Honor of Terry Childs" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The University of Texas at Austin’s Texas Archeological Research Laboratory (TARL) is the oldest and largest archaeological repository in Texas, housing many millions of artifacts from more than 8,000 sites in Texas and beyond. Collections at TARL range from massive WPA projects of the 1930s to recent CRM projects, and cover the entire range of Texas prehistory and history. Such massive collections, however, bring with them considerable organizational and accessibility challenges, particularly in a chronically under-resourced institution. Although the TARL collections hold vast amounts of data awaiting study and analysis, accessing these valuable resources can at times be frustrating and time-consuming. Here, TARL’s collections staff provides guidance on planning research at TARL, preparing to visit, and making the most of your time at our facility. By opening a dialogue between researchers and staff, we aim to encourage more collections-based research and collaboration.

Cite this Record

Planning Research at the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory and Don’t Forget your Cowboy Boots. Marybeth Tomka, Lauren Bussiere. Presented at The 84th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Albuquerque, NM. 2019 ( tDAR id: 451831)

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 23337