Normal field stars located behind dense clouds are a valuable resource in interstellar astrophysics, as they provide continua in which to study phenomena such as gas-phase and solid-state absorption features, interstellar extinction, and polarization. This paper reports the results of a search for highly reddened stars behind the Taurus Dark Cloud complex. We use the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) Point Source Catalog to survey a ~50deg^2^ area of the cloud to a limiting magnitude of Ks=10.0. Photometry in the 1.2-2.2um passbands from 2MASS is combined with photometry at longer infrared wavelengths (3.6-12um) from the Spitzer Space Telescope and the Infrared Astronomical Satellite to provide effective discrimination between reddened field stars and young stellar objects (YSOs) embedded in the cloud. Our final catalog contains 248 confirmed or probable background field stars, together with estimates of their total visual extinctions, which span the range 2<A_V_5um.

Cone search capability for table J/ApJS/176/457/table (Catalog of reddened field stars and associated data (table 1 and 2 of the paper))