Smithsonian Open Access

Search the Smithsonian's Open Access collection: 17 million public-domain records from all 21 museums, the National Zoo, nine research centres and the Institution's libraries and archives, of which 5 million carry a free-to-use image, 3D scan or recording. Search everything or one museum, filter by topic, place, culture, object type and the years something was made, read a record in full, find and download the pictures, pick an object at random for a post, and watch for records that have changed. Everything is CC0: free to use, for anything, with no permission needed. A free API key from api.data.gov is all it takes.

Actions

Action	What it does
Download a media file	Download one of a record's public-domain files: an image, a scan, a recording, as a file a later step can attach to an email, post to a chat or put in storage.
Find images	Find Smithsonian records that really do carry a public-domain image (or 3D model, recording or scan), and return the media itself: the picture URL ready to embed, a thumbnail, the full-resolution download and the pixel dimensions of each.
Get a random record	Pick one Smithsonian record at random from everything the filters match: an object of the day for a newsletter, a channel post, or a slide.
Get a record	Get one record in full by its id: title, museum, subjects, places, cultures, makers, every line of descriptive text the owning museum published, its permanent link, and every CC0 image or scan attached to it.
Get Open Access statistics	How much of the Smithsonian is open: how many records the Institution holds, how many of those are public domain, how many carry a public-domain image or scan, and how many media files that comes to.
Get records updated since	Find the Smithsonian records that have changed since a given date and time: the check to run on a schedule to keep a copy in step, or to watch one museum for new acquisitions.
List museums and archives	List every Smithsonian museum, archive and research unit that has released Open Access records, with the unit code a search filters by and how much of each is public domain.
List search terms	Look up the exact wording the Smithsonian indexes by.
Search a category	Search within one of the Smithsonian's three Open Access categories: Art & Design, History & Culture, or Science & Technology, instead of across everything.
Search the collection	Search all 17 million public-domain records the Smithsonian has released: objects, artworks, specimens, photographs and archives from every museum, the National Zoo and the Institution's libraries.

Download a media file

Download one of a record's public-domain files: an image, a scan, a recording, as a file a later step can attach to an email, post to a chat or put in storage. Choose thumbnail, screen size or full resolution. Use this wherever a link will not do and the file itself has to travel with the message.

Inputs

Recordrecord_idtextRequired: The record's id, as it comes back from a search: either the 'id' ("ld1-1643398738600-1643398746382-1") or the 'edan_url' ("edanmdm:nmaahc_2012.36.4ab"). Both address the same record.
Which filemedia_numbernumber: Optional. Which of the record's files to download, counting from 1. The first one by default. A record's 'media_count' says how many it has.At least 1. Default: 1.
Sizesizetext: Optional. Which rendering to download. Screen size by default: full resolution can be a 6 MB scan, and a thumbnail is a few kilobytes. A file published in only one size returns that one whatever is chosen.One of: full (Full resolution), screen (Screen size), thumbnail. Default: screen.

Outputs

byte_sizenumber: The file's size in bytes.
content_typetext: The file's media type, e.g. image/jpeg.
document_reftext: The stored document's reference.
documentslist: The downloaded file as a document, ready to attach to a later step.
mediaobject: One CC0 image, scan, 3D model or recording attached to a record.
recordobject: One Open Access record: a museum object, a specimen, an archival collection or an item inside one.
source_urltext: Where it was downloaded from on the Smithsonian's media server.
urltext: A URL that serves the stored file.

Example output

{
  "byte_size": 556548,
  "content_type": "image/jpeg",
  "document_ref": "doc_smithsonian_nmaahc_2012_36_4ab",
  "documents": [
    {
      "content_type": "image/jpeg",
      "document_ref": "doc_smithsonian_nmaahc_2012_36_4ab",
      "filename": "drumstick-used-by-art-blakey.jpg",
      "size_bytes": 556548,
      "url": "/actions/core/serve-document/doc_smithsonian_nmaahc_2012_36_4ab"
    }
  ],
  "media": {
    "alt_text": "",
    "description": "A drumstick with a brown plastic tip used by Art Blakey. The stick is wood and cylindrical with one rounded end and one tapered end.",
    "guid": "http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/az92fdf43d2-3862-48cc-bf42-48f8ab003d8f",
    "ids_id": "NMAAHC-FC21D77F2F702_5001",
    "image_url": "https://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?id=NMAAHC-FC21D77F2F702_5001",
    "media_id": "media:NMAAHC-FC21D77F2F702_5001",
    "media_type": "Images",
    "resources": [
      {
        "height": 2732,
        "label": "High-resolution JPEG",
        "url": "https://ids.si.edu/ids/download?id=NMAAHC-FC21D77F2F702_5001.jpg",
        "width": 4296
      },
      {
        "height": null,
        "label": "Screen Image",
        "url": "https://ids.si.edu/ids/download?id=NMAAHC-FC21D77F2F702_5001_screen",
        "width": null
      }
    ],
    "thumbnail_url": "https://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?id=NMAAHC-FC21D77F2F702_5001",
    "usage": "CC0"
  },
  "record": {
    "cultures": [
      "African American"
    ],
    "dates": [
      "1970s"
    ],
    "details": [
      {
        "content": "Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture",
        "group": "creditLine",
        "label": "Credit Line"
      },
      {
        "content": "A drumstick with a brown plastic tip used by Art Blakey. H x W x D: 16 1/4 x 9/16 x 9/16 in.",
        "group": "physicalDescription",
        "label": "Description"
      }
    ],
    "edan_url": "edanmdm:nmaahc_2012.36.4ab",
    "guid": "http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a4-eeed-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa",
    "has_media": true,
    "id": "ld1-1643398738600-1643398746382-1",
    "indexed_at": "2022-01-28T18:58:58Z",
    "media": [
      {
        "alt_text": "",
        "description": "A drumstick with a brown plastic tip used by Art Blakey. The stick is wood and cylindrical with one rounded end and one tapered end.",
        "guid": "http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/az92fdf43d2-3862-48cc-bf42-48f8ab003d8f",
        "ids_id": "NMAAHC-FC21D77F2F702_5001",
        "image_url": "https://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?id=NMAAHC-FC21D77F2F702_5001",
        "media_id": "media:NMAAHC-FC21D77F2F702_5001",
        "media_type": "Images",
        "resources": [
          {
            "height": 2732,
            "label": "High-resolution JPEG",
            "url": "https://ids.si.edu/ids/download?id=NMAAHC-FC21D77F2F702_5001.jpg",
            "width": 4296
          },
          {
            "height": null,
            "label": "Screen Image",
            "url": "https://ids.si.edu/ids/download?id=NMAAHC-FC21D77F2F702_5001_screen",
            "width": null
          }
        ],
        "thumbnail_url": "https://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?id=NMAAHC-FC21D77F2F702_5001",
        "usage": "CC0"
      }
    ],
    "media_count": 1,
    "metadata_access": "CC0",
    "museum": "National Museum of African American History and Culture",
    "names": [
      "Blakey, Art"
    ],
    "object_types": [
      "Drumsticks"
    ],
    "online_media_types": [
      "Images"
    ],
    "other_index_terms": [],
    "places": [
      "United States"
    ],
    "record_id": "nmaahc_2012.36.4ab",
    "record_link": "https://www.si.edu/object/drumstick-used-art-blakey:nmaahc_2012.36.4ab",
    "record_type": "edanmdm",
    "title": "Drumstick used by Art Blakey",
    "topics": [
      "Jazz (Music)",
      "African American",
      "Music"
    ],
    "unit_code": "NMAAHC",
    "updated_at": "2022-09-21T18:29:24Z"
  },
  "source_url": "https://ids.si.edu/ids/download?id=NMAAHC-FC21D77F2F702_5001_screen",
  "url": "/actions/core/serve-document/doc_smithsonian_nmaahc_2012_36_4ab"
}

Find images

Find Smithsonian records that really do carry a public-domain image (or 3D model, recording or scan), and return the media itself: the picture URL ready to embed, a thumbnail, the full-resolution download and the pixel dimensions of each. Unlike a plain search with a media filter, every result here has a file: records are read and checked rather than trusted to their index, which over-reports.

Inputs

Search textquerytext: Optional. What to look for, across titles, descriptions, makers and everything else the record says. Leave blank to match everything and rely on the filters below. Advanced: the Smithsonian's own syntax works here too, so 'topic:"Jazz (Music)" OR topic:"Blues (Music)"' is a valid search text.
Museumsunit_codeslist: Optional. Which Smithsonian museums, archives or research units to search. Leave empty to search all of them. Pick from the list: the codes are not guessable, and the API answers an unknown one with no results rather than an error.
Topicstopicslist: Optional. Only records indexed under these subjects. Topics are exact phrases from the Smithsonian's own vocabulary ("Jazz (Music)", not "jazz"), use List terms with the Topics category to find the exact wording. Several topics match any of them.
Placesplaceslist: Optional. Only records indexed under these places. Exact phrases from the Smithsonian's vocabulary: use List terms with the Places category to find the wording. Several places match any of them.
Culturescultureslist: Optional. Only records indexed under these cultures. Exact phrases from the Smithsonian's vocabulary: use List terms with the Cultures category to find the wording.
Object typesobject_typeslist: Optional. Only records of these kinds of thing, in the museum's own words ("Drumsticks", "Photographs", "Postage stamps"). Several types match any of them.
Media typemedia_typetext: Optional. What kind of file to look for. Images by default.Default: Images.
Made in or after (year)year_fromnumber: Optional. Only records dated to this year or later. The collection indexes dates by decade, so the search is widened to whole decades: 1918 searches from the 1910s, and the result says which decades it covered. Leave blank for no lower bound.From -4000 to 2100.
Made in or before (year)year_tonumber: Optional. Only records dated to this year or earlier, again widened to whole decades. Needs a 'Made in or after' year alongside it; leave both blank to search every date, or set only the lower bound to run from it to today.From -4000 to 2100.
Records to checkmax_records_scannednumber: Optional. The most records to read while filling the page. Between 1 and 2000; 200 by default. Raise it for a narrow search whose few matches are scattered; the result reports whether the budget ran out.From 1 to 2000. Default: 200.
Number of imageslimitnumber: Optional. How many media files to return. Between 1 and 1000; 20 by default.From 1 to 1000. Default: 20.

Outputs

countnumber: How many items are in this page.
imageslist: The media files found, each carrying the record it belongs to alongside the file's own URLs.
media_typetext: The kind of file that was looked for.
query_senttext: The query the filters were turned into, in the Smithsonian's own syntax. Useful for seeing exactly what was asked, and for pasting into the free-text search box to refine it by hand.
records_matching_filternumber: How many records matched the filters in total, before checking which of them actually carry a file.
records_scannednumber: How many records were read to fill this page.
scan_limit_reachedtrue/false: True when the budget in 'Records to check' ran out before the page was full, so more media exists further down. Raise the budget or narrow the search.

Example output

{
  "count": 1,
  "images": [
    {
      "alt_text": "",
      "description": "A drumstick with a brown plastic tip used by Art Blakey. The stick is wood and cylindrical with one rounded end and one tapered end.",
      "edan_url": "edanmdm:nmaahc_2012.36.4ab",
      "guid": "http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/az92fdf43d2-3862-48cc-bf42-48f8ab003d8f",
      "ids_id": "NMAAHC-FC21D77F2F702_5001",
      "image_url": "https://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?id=NMAAHC-FC21D77F2F702_5001",
      "media_id": "media:NMAAHC-FC21D77F2F702_5001",
      "media_type": "Images",
      "museum": "National Museum of African American History and Culture",
      "record_id": "ld1-1643398738600-1643398746382-1",
      "record_link": "https://www.si.edu/object/drumstick-used-art-blakey:nmaahc_2012.36.4ab",
      "record_title": "Drumstick used by Art Blakey",
      "resources": [
        {
          "height": 2732,
          "label": "High-resolution JPEG",
          "url": "https://ids.si.edu/ids/download?id=NMAAHC-FC21D77F2F702_5001.jpg",
          "width": 4296
        },
        {
          "height": null,
          "label": "Screen Image",
          "url": "https://ids.si.edu/ids/download?id=NMAAHC-FC21D77F2F702_5001_screen",
          "width": null
        }
      ],
      "thumbnail_url": "https://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?id=NMAAHC-FC21D77F2F702_5001",
      "unit_code": "NMAAHC",
      "usage": "CC0"
    }
  ],
  "media_type": "Images",
  "query_sent": "(Art Blakey) AND online_media_type:\"Images\"",
  "records_matching_filter": 1483,
  "records_scanned": 60,
  "scan_limit_reached": false
}

Get a random record

Pick one Smithsonian record at random from everything the filters match: an object of the day for a newsletter, a channel post, or a slide. Narrow it to a museum or a topic to keep the pick on theme, and ask for one with a picture when the post needs one.

Inputs

Search textquerytext: Optional. What to look for, across titles, descriptions, makers and everything else the record says. Leave blank to match everything and rely on the filters below. Advanced: the Smithsonian's own syntax works here too, so 'topic:"Jazz (Music)" OR topic:"Blues (Music)"' is a valid search text.
Museumsunit_codeslist: Optional. Which Smithsonian museums, archives or research units to search. Leave empty to search all of them. Pick from the list: the codes are not guessable, and the API answers an unknown one with no results rather than an error.
Topicstopicslist: Optional. Only records indexed under these subjects. Topics are exact phrases from the Smithsonian's own vocabulary ("Jazz (Music)", not "jazz"), use List terms with the Topics category to find the exact wording. Several topics match any of them.
Must have an imagewith_imagetrue/false: Optional. Keep drawing until the pick has a public-domain image attached. Off by default. Each draw is one request and at most 8 are made, so a filter that matches almost nothing with a picture can still come back empty: 'found' says which happened.Default: false.

Outputs

attemptsnumber: How many draws it took.
foundtrue/false: True when a record was picked. False when nothing matched the filters, or when 'Must have an image' was set and no draw landed on one: branch on this before reading the record.
query_senttext: The query the filters were turned into, in the Smithsonian's own syntax. Useful for seeing exactly what was asked, and for pasting into the free-text search box to refine it by hand.
recordobject: One Open Access record: a museum object, a specimen, an archival collection or an item inside one.
total_countnumber: How many records it was picked from.

Example output

{
  "attempts": 2,
  "found": true,
  "query_sent": "unit_code:\"NMAAHC\" AND online_media_type:\"Images\"",
  "record": {
    "cultures": [
      "African American"
    ],
    "dates": [
      "1970s"
    ],
    "details": [
      {
        "content": "Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture",
        "group": "creditLine",
        "label": "Credit Line"
      },
      {
        "content": "A drumstick with a brown plastic tip used by Art Blakey. H x W x D: 16 1/4 x 9/16 x 9/16 in.",
        "group": "physicalDescription",
        "label": "Description"
      }
    ],
    "edan_url": "edanmdm:nmaahc_2012.36.4ab",
    "guid": "http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a4-eeed-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa",
    "has_media": true,
    "id": "ld1-1643398738600-1643398746382-1",
    "indexed_at": "2022-01-28T18:58:58Z",
    "media": [
      {
        "alt_text": "",
        "description": "A drumstick with a brown plastic tip used by Art Blakey. The stick is wood and cylindrical with one rounded end and one tapered end.",
        "guid": "http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/az92fdf43d2-3862-48cc-bf42-48f8ab003d8f",
        "ids_id": "NMAAHC-FC21D77F2F702_5001",
        "image_url": "https://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?id=NMAAHC-FC21D77F2F702_5001",
        "media_id": "media:NMAAHC-FC21D77F2F702_5001",
        "media_type": "Images",
        "resources": [
          {
            "height": 2732,
            "label": "High-resolution JPEG",
            "url": "https://ids.si.edu/ids/download?id=NMAAHC-FC21D77F2F702_5001.jpg",
            "width": 4296
          },
          {
            "height": null,
            "label": "Screen Image",
            "url": "https://ids.si.edu/ids/download?id=NMAAHC-FC21D77F2F702_5001_screen",
            "width": null
          }
        ],
        "thumbnail_url": "https://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?id=NMAAHC-FC21D77F2F702_5001",
        "usage": "CC0"
      }
    ],
    "media_count": 1,
    "metadata_access": "CC0",
    "museum": "National Museum of African American History and Culture",
    "names": [
      "Blakey, Art"
    ],
    "object_types": [
      "Drumsticks"
    ],
    "online_media_types": [
      "Images"
    ],
    "other_index_terms": [],
    "places": [
      "United States"
    ],
    "record_id": "nmaahc_2012.36.4ab",
    "record_link": "https://www.si.edu/object/drumstick-used-art-blakey:nmaahc_2012.36.4ab",
    "record_type": "edanmdm",
    "title": "Drumstick used by Art Blakey",
    "topics": [
      "Jazz (Music)",
      "African American",
      "Music"
    ],
    "unit_code": "NMAAHC",
    "updated_at": "2022-09-21T18:29:24Z"
  },
  "total_count": 38444
}

Get a record

Get one record in full by its id: title, museum, subjects, places, cultures, makers, every line of descriptive text the owning museum published, its permanent link, and every CC0 image or scan attached to it. Use the id or the EDAN url a search result carries.

Inputs

Recordrecord_idtextRequired: The record's id, as it comes back from a search: either the 'id' ("ld1-1643398738600-1643398746382-1") or the 'edan_url' ("edanmdm:nmaahc_2012.36.4ab"). Both address the same record.

Outputs

recordobject: One Open Access record: a museum object, a specimen, an archival collection or an item inside one.

Example output

{
  "record": {
    "cultures": [
      "African American"
    ],
    "dates": [
      "1970s"
    ],
    "details": [
      {
        "content": "Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture",
        "group": "creditLine",
        "label": "Credit Line"
      },
      {
        "content": "A drumstick with a brown plastic tip used by Art Blakey. H x W x D: 16 1/4 x 9/16 x 9/16 in.",
        "group": "physicalDescription",
        "label": "Description"
      }
    ],
    "edan_url": "edanmdm:nmaahc_2012.36.4ab",
    "guid": "http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a4-eeed-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa",
    "has_media": true,
    "id": "ld1-1643398738600-1643398746382-1",
    "indexed_at": "2022-01-28T18:58:58Z",
    "media": [
      {
        "alt_text": "",
        "description": "A drumstick with a brown plastic tip used by Art Blakey. The stick is wood and cylindrical with one rounded end and one tapered end.",
        "guid": "http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/az92fdf43d2-3862-48cc-bf42-48f8ab003d8f",
        "ids_id": "NMAAHC-FC21D77F2F702_5001",
        "image_url": "https://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?id=NMAAHC-FC21D77F2F702_5001",
        "media_id": "media:NMAAHC-FC21D77F2F702_5001",
        "media_type": "Images",
        "resources": [
          {
            "height": 2732,
            "label": "High-resolution JPEG",
            "url": "https://ids.si.edu/ids/download?id=NMAAHC-FC21D77F2F702_5001.jpg",
            "width": 4296
          },
          {
            "height": null,
            "label": "Screen Image",
            "url": "https://ids.si.edu/ids/download?id=NMAAHC-FC21D77F2F702_5001_screen",
            "width": null
          }
        ],
        "thumbnail_url": "https://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?id=NMAAHC-FC21D77F2F702_5001",
        "usage": "CC0"
      }
    ],
    "media_count": 1,
    "metadata_access": "CC0",
    "museum": "National Museum of African American History and Culture",
    "names": [
      "Blakey, Art"
    ],
    "object_types": [
      "Drumsticks"
    ],
    "online_media_types": [
      "Images"
    ],
    "other_index_terms": [],
    "places": [
      "United States"
    ],
    "record_id": "nmaahc_2012.36.4ab",
    "record_link": "https://www.si.edu/object/drumstick-used-art-blakey:nmaahc_2012.36.4ab",
    "record_type": "edanmdm",
    "title": "Drumstick used by Art Blakey",
    "topics": [
      "Jazz (Music)",
      "African American",
      "Music"
    ],
    "unit_code": "NMAAHC",
    "updated_at": "2022-09-21T18:29:24Z"
  }
}

Get Open Access statistics

How much of the Smithsonian is open: how many records the Institution holds, how many of those are public domain, how many carry a public-domain image or scan, and how many media files that comes to. The counts are recomputed monthly and the result says which month it is reporting.

Inputs

None.

Outputs

as_oftext: The month these counts were computed for, YYYY-MM.
cc0_media_filesnumber: How many public-domain media files there are in all: a record can carry several.
cc0_media_percentagenumber: What share of public-domain records carry media, as a whole-number percentage.
cc0_recordsnumber: How many are public domain, and so reachable by a search.
cc0_records_with_medianumber: How many of those carry a public-domain image, scan or recording.
museum_countnumber: How many museums, archives and research units are contributing.
total_recordsnumber: Every record the Smithsonian holds, open or not.

Example output

{
  "as_of": "2026-08",
  "cc0_media_files": 4785586,
  "cc0_media_percentage": 30,
  "cc0_records": 17412580,
  "cc0_records_with_media": 5255375,
  "museum_count": 48,
  "total_records": 42564521
}

Get records updated since

Find the Smithsonian records that have changed since a given date and time: the check to run on a schedule to keep a copy in step, or to watch one museum for new acquisitions. Pass the time the previous run reported and this returns only what has changed since.

Inputs

Changed sinceupdated_sincedate and timeRequired: Only records changed at or after this moment. Use the 'latest updated at' from the previous run.
Search textquerytext: Optional. What to look for, across titles, descriptions, makers and everything else the record says. Leave blank to match everything and rely on the filters below. Advanced: the Smithsonian's own syntax works here too, so 'topic:"Jazz (Music)" OR topic:"Blues (Music)"' is a valid search text.
Museumsunit_codeslist: Optional. Which Smithsonian museums, archives or research units to search. Leave empty to search all of them. Pick from the list: the codes are not guessable, and the API answers an unknown one with no results rather than an error.
Topicstopicslist: Optional. Only records indexed under these subjects. Topics are exact phrases from the Smithsonian's own vocabulary ("Jazz (Music)", not "jazz"), use List terms with the Topics category to find the exact wording. Several topics match any of them.
Media typesmedia_typeslist: Optional. Only records the Smithsonian indexes as having media of these kinds. Narrows the search, but does not guarantee a file is there: use Find images when every result must have one.
Records to checkmax_records_scannednumber: Optional. The most records to read while looking for changes. Between 1 and 2000; 200 by default. The Smithsonian can sort by 'recently updated' but cannot filter on it, and its order is only approximate, so every record read is checked against the cutoff.From 1 to 2000. Default: 200.
Number of recordslimitnumber: Optional. How many records to return. Between 1 and 1000; 20 by default.From 1 to 1000. Default: 20.

Outputs

countnumber: How many items are in this page.
has_moretrue/false: True when more matched than this page holds.
has_updatestrue/false: True when anything changed. Branch on this to stay quiet on the days nothing did.
latest_updated_attext: The most recent change time seen. Store it and pass it back as 'Changed since' next run.
query_senttext: The query the filters were turned into, in the Smithsonian's own syntax. Useful for seeing exactly what was asked, and for pasting into the free-text search box to refine it by hand.
recordslist: The changed records, most recently changed first.
records_matching_filternumber: How many records matched the filters in total, before the cutoff was applied.
records_scannednumber: How many records were read.
scan_limit_reachedtrue/false: True when the budget ran out before every matching record had been read, so more changes may exist.
total_countnumber: How many items matched in total, across every page.
updated_sincetext: The cutoff that was applied, ISO 8601 UTC.

Example output

{
  "count": 1,
  "has_more": false,
  "has_updates": true,
  "latest_updated_at": "2022-09-21T18:29:24Z",
  "query_sent": "unit_code:\"NMAAHC\"",
  "records": [
    {
      "cultures": [
        "African American"
      ],
      "dates": [
        "1970s"
      ],
      "details": [
        {
          "content": "Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture",
          "group": "creditLine",
          "label": "Credit Line"
        },
        {
          "content": "A drumstick with a brown plastic tip used by Art Blakey. H x W x D: 16 1/4 x 9/16 x 9/16 in.",
          "group": "physicalDescription",
          "label": "Description"
        }
      ],
      "edan_url": "edanmdm:nmaahc_2012.36.4ab",
      "guid": "http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a4-eeed-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa",
      "has_media": true,
      "id": "ld1-1643398738600-1643398746382-1",
      "indexed_at": "2022-01-28T18:58:58Z",
      "media": [
        {
          "alt_text": "",
          "description": "A drumstick with a brown plastic tip used by Art Blakey. The stick is wood and cylindrical with one rounded end and one tapered end.",
          "guid": "http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/az92fdf43d2-3862-48cc-bf42-48f8ab003d8f",
          "ids_id": "NMAAHC-FC21D77F2F702_5001",
          "image_url": "https://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?id=NMAAHC-FC21D77F2F702_5001",
          "media_id": "media:NMAAHC-FC21D77F2F702_5001",
          "media_type": "Images",
          "resources": [
            {
              "height": 2732,
              "label": "High-resolution JPEG",
              "url": "https://ids.si.edu/ids/download?id=NMAAHC-FC21D77F2F702_5001.jpg",
              "width": 4296
            },
            {
              "height": null,
              "label": "Screen Image",
              "url": "https://ids.si.edu/ids/download?id=NMAAHC-FC21D77F2F702_5001_screen",
              "width": null
            }
          ],
          "thumbnail_url": "https://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?id=NMAAHC-FC21D77F2F702_5001",
          "usage": "CC0"
        }
      ],
      "media_count": 1,
      "metadata_access": "CC0",
      "museum": "National Museum of African American History and Culture",
      "names": [
        "Blakey, Art"
      ],
      "object_types": [
        "Drumsticks"
      ],
      "online_media_types": [
        "Images"
      ],
      "other_index_terms": [],
      "places": [
        "United States"
      ],
      "record_id": "nmaahc_2012.36.4ab",
      "record_link": "https://www.si.edu/object/drumstick-used-art-blakey:nmaahc_2012.36.4ab",
      "record_type": "edanmdm",
      "title": "Drumstick used by Art Blakey",
      "topics": [
        "Jazz (Music)",
        "African American",
        "Music"
      ],
      "unit_code": "NMAAHC",
      "updated_at": "2022-09-21T18:29:24Z"
    }
  ],
  "records_matching_filter": 38444,
  "records_scanned": 200,
  "scan_limit_reached": true,
  "total_count": 1,
  "updated_since": "2022-09-01T00:00:00Z"
}

List museums and archives

List every Smithsonian museum, archive and research unit that has released Open Access records, with the unit code a search filters by and how much of each is public domain. This is how to find out whether a museum is worth filtering to: the National Museum of Natural History's botany department alone is 4.5 million records, and some units have a few hundred.

Inputs

Searchsearchtext: Optional. Only units whose name or code contains this text, ignoring capitals.
Sort bysort_bytext: Optional. How to order the list. Largest Open Access holdings first by default.One of: cc0_records (Most Open Access records), cc0_records_with_media (Most records with images), name (Name (A-Z)), unit_code (Unit code (A-Z)). Default: cc0_records.
Number of unitslimitnumber: Optional. How many units to return. Between 1 and 1000; 20 by default; there are around 48 in all.From 1 to 1000. Default: 20.
Skipoffsetnumber: Optional. How many matching records to skip before this page. Use the next offset from the previous result to page through. 0 by default.At least 0. Default: 0.

Outputs

as_oftext: The month the counts were computed for, YYYY-MM.
countnumber: How many items are in this page.
has_moretrue/false: True when more matched than this page holds.
museumslist: The units in this page.
next_offsetnumber: The offset that fetches the next page. Null when this is the last one.
searchtext: The search that was applied. Null when none was.
sorted_bytext: The order that was applied.
total_countnumber: How many items matched in total, across every page.

Example output

{
  "as_of": "2026-08",
  "count": 1,
  "has_more": true,
  "museums": [
    {
      "cc0_records": 1318279,
      "cc0_records_with_media": 12251,
      "museum": "National Museum of American History",
      "total_records": 2941452,
      "unit_code": "NMAH"
    }
  ],
  "next_offset": 20,
  "search": null,
  "sorted_by": "cc0_records",
  "total_count": 48
}

List search terms

Look up the exact wording the Smithsonian indexes by. Topics, places and cultures are matched as exact phrases: the collection knows 'Jazz (Music)', not 'jazz', so this is how to find the phrase before filtering a search on it. Also lists the unit codes, the decades records are dated to and the kinds of media they carry.

Inputs

Term categorycategorytextRequired: Which vocabulary to list. Note that the Smithsonian's own gateway currently refuses the Object types list and answers it with a block page; the other seven work, and Search the collection's Object types filter does too.One of: culture (Cultures), data_source (Museums, archives and collections), date (Dates (as decades)), object_type (Object types), online_media_type (Media types), place (Places), topic (Topics), unit_code (Smithsonian unit codes).
Starting withstarts_withtext: Optional. Only terms beginning with this text. These vocabularies run to hundreds of thousands of terms, so narrowing them is worth doing.
Containingcontainstext: Optional. Only terms with this text anywhere in them, ignoring capitals. Use it when the term does not begin with the word you know.
Number of termslimitnumber: Optional. How many terms to return. Between 1 and 1000; 20 by default.From 1 to 1000. Default: 20.
Skipoffsetnumber: Optional. How many matching records to skip before this page. Use the next offset from the previous result to page through. 0 by default.At least 0. Default: 0.

Outputs

categorytext: The vocabulary that was listed.
category_nametext: That vocabulary's display name.
containstext: The substring that was applied. Null when none was.
countnumber: How many items are in this page.
has_moretrue/false: True when more matched than this page holds.
next_offsetnumber: The offset that fetches the next page. Null when this is the last one.
starts_withtext: The prefix that was applied. Null when none was.
termslist: The terms in this page, exactly as a search filter expects them.
total_countnumber: How many items matched in total, across every page.

Example output

{
  "category": "topic",
  "category_name": "Topics",
  "contains": null,
  "count": 3,
  "has_more": false,
  "next_offset": null,
  "starts_with": "Jazz",
  "terms": [
    "Jazz (Music)",
    "Jazz musicians",
    "Jazz singers"
  ],
  "total_count": 3
}

Search a category

Search within one of the Smithsonian's three Open Access categories: Art & Design, History & Culture, or Science & Technology, instead of across everything. The same filters apply; the category is the Smithsonian's own grouping of its collections, so this is the way to keep a search about 'Mercury' on planets rather than on thermometers.

Inputs

CategorycategorytextRequired: Which of the three Open Access categories to search.One of: art_design (Art & Design), history_culture (History & Culture), science_technology (Science & Technology).
Search textquerytext: Optional. What to look for, across titles, descriptions, makers and everything else the record says. Leave blank to match everything and rely on the filters below. Advanced: the Smithsonian's own syntax works here too, so 'topic:"Jazz (Music)" OR topic:"Blues (Music)"' is a valid search text.
Museumsunit_codeslist: Optional. Which Smithsonian museums, archives or research units to search. Leave empty to search all of them. Pick from the list: the codes are not guessable, and the API answers an unknown one with no results rather than an error.
Topicstopicslist: Optional. Only records indexed under these subjects. Topics are exact phrases from the Smithsonian's own vocabulary ("Jazz (Music)", not "jazz"), use List terms with the Topics category to find the exact wording. Several topics match any of them.
Placesplaceslist: Optional. Only records indexed under these places. Exact phrases from the Smithsonian's vocabulary: use List terms with the Places category to find the wording. Several places match any of them.
Culturescultureslist: Optional. Only records indexed under these cultures. Exact phrases from the Smithsonian's vocabulary: use List terms with the Cultures category to find the wording.
Object typesobject_typeslist: Optional. Only records of these kinds of thing, in the museum's own words ("Drumsticks", "Photographs", "Postage stamps"). Several types match any of them.
Media typesmedia_typeslist: Optional. Only records the Smithsonian indexes as having media of these kinds. Narrows the search, but does not guarantee a file is there: use Find images when every result must have one.
Made in or after (year)year_fromnumber: Optional. Only records dated to this year or later. The collection indexes dates by decade, so the search is widened to whole decades: 1918 searches from the 1910s, and the result says which decades it covered. Leave blank for no lower bound.From -4000 to 2100.
Made in or before (year)year_tonumber: Optional. Only records dated to this year or earlier, again widened to whole decades. Needs a 'Made in or after' year alongside it; leave both blank to search every date, or set only the lower bound to run from it to today.From -4000 to 2100.
Sort bysorttext: Optional. How to order the results. Best match by default. Note that the Smithsonian's 'newest' and 'recently updated' orders are approximate rather than strictly chronological.One of: relevancy (Best match), newest (Newest records first), updated (Recently updated first). Default: relevancy.
Number of recordslimitnumber: Optional. How many records to return. Between 1 and 1000; 20 by default.From 1 to 1000. Default: 20.
Skipoffsetnumber: Optional. How many matching records to skip before this page. Use the next offset from the previous result to page through. 0 by default.At least 0. Default: 0.

Outputs

categorytext: The category that was searched.
category_nametext: That category's display name.
countnumber: How many items are in this page.
decades_searchedlist: The decades the year range was widened to, because the collection indexes dates by decade. Empty when no year range was given.
has_moretrue/false: True when more matched than this page holds.
next_offsetnumber: The offset that fetches the next page. Null when this is the last one.
query_senttext: The query the filters were turned into, in the Smithsonian's own syntax. Useful for seeing exactly what was asked, and for pasting into the free-text search box to refine it by hand.
recordslist: The matching records in this page.
total_countnumber: How many items matched in total, across every page.

Example output

{
  "category": "history_culture",
  "category_name": "History & Culture",
  "count": 1,
  "decades_searched": [],
  "has_more": true,
  "next_offset": 20,
  "query_sent": "(Art Blakey) AND unit_code:\"NMAAHC\"",
  "records": [
    {
      "cultures": [
        "African American"
      ],
      "dates": [
        "1970s"
      ],
      "details": [
        {
          "content": "Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture",
          "group": "creditLine",
          "label": "Credit Line"
        },
        {
          "content": "A drumstick with a brown plastic tip used by Art Blakey. H x W x D: 16 1/4 x 9/16 x 9/16 in.",
          "group": "physicalDescription",
          "label": "Description"
        }
      ],
      "edan_url": "edanmdm:nmaahc_2012.36.4ab",
      "guid": "http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a4-eeed-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa",
      "has_media": true,
      "id": "ld1-1643398738600-1643398746382-1",
      "indexed_at": "2022-01-28T18:58:58Z",
      "media": [
        {
          "alt_text": "",
          "description": "A drumstick with a brown plastic tip used by Art Blakey. The stick is wood and cylindrical with one rounded end and one tapered end.",
          "guid": "http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/az92fdf43d2-3862-48cc-bf42-48f8ab003d8f",
          "ids_id": "NMAAHC-FC21D77F2F702_5001",
          "image_url": "https://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?id=NMAAHC-FC21D77F2F702_5001",
          "media_id": "media:NMAAHC-FC21D77F2F702_5001",
          "media_type": "Images",
          "resources": [
            {
              "height": 2732,
              "label": "High-resolution JPEG",
              "url": "https://ids.si.edu/ids/download?id=NMAAHC-FC21D77F2F702_5001.jpg",
              "width": 4296
            },
            {
              "height": null,
              "label": "Screen Image",
              "url": "https://ids.si.edu/ids/download?id=NMAAHC-FC21D77F2F702_5001_screen",
              "width": null
            }
          ],
          "thumbnail_url": "https://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?id=NMAAHC-FC21D77F2F702_5001",
          "usage": "CC0"
        }
      ],
      "media_count": 1,
      "metadata_access": "CC0",
      "museum": "National Museum of African American History and Culture",
      "names": [
        "Blakey, Art"
      ],
      "object_types": [
        "Drumsticks"
      ],
      "online_media_types": [
        "Images"
      ],
      "other_index_terms": [],
      "places": [
        "United States"
      ],
      "record_id": "nmaahc_2012.36.4ab",
      "record_link": "https://www.si.edu/object/drumstick-used-art-blakey:nmaahc_2012.36.4ab",
      "record_type": "edanmdm",
      "title": "Drumstick used by Art Blakey",
      "topics": [
        "Jazz (Music)",
        "African American",
        "Music"
      ],
      "unit_code": "NMAAHC",
      "updated_at": "2022-09-21T18:29:24Z"
    }
  ],
  "total_count": 35
}

Search the collection

Search all 17 million public-domain records the Smithsonian has released: objects, artworks, specimens, photographs and archives from every museum, the National Zoo and the Institution's libraries. Filter by museum, topic, place, culture, object type, media type and the years it was made. Each record comes back with its title, museum, subjects, descriptive text, permanent link and any CC0 images attached to it.

Inputs

Search textquerytext: Optional. What to look for, across titles, descriptions, makers and everything else the record says. Leave blank to match everything and rely on the filters below. Advanced: the Smithsonian's own syntax works here too, so 'topic:"Jazz (Music)" OR topic:"Blues (Music)"' is a valid search text.
Museumsunit_codeslist: Optional. Which Smithsonian museums, archives or research units to search. Leave empty to search all of them. Pick from the list: the codes are not guessable, and the API answers an unknown one with no results rather than an error.
Topicstopicslist: Optional. Only records indexed under these subjects. Topics are exact phrases from the Smithsonian's own vocabulary ("Jazz (Music)", not "jazz"), use List terms with the Topics category to find the exact wording. Several topics match any of them.
Placesplaceslist: Optional. Only records indexed under these places. Exact phrases from the Smithsonian's vocabulary: use List terms with the Places category to find the wording. Several places match any of them.
Culturescultureslist: Optional. Only records indexed under these cultures. Exact phrases from the Smithsonian's vocabulary: use List terms with the Cultures category to find the wording.
Object typesobject_typeslist: Optional. Only records of these kinds of thing, in the museum's own words ("Drumsticks", "Photographs", "Postage stamps"). Several types match any of them.
Media typesmedia_typeslist: Optional. Only records the Smithsonian indexes as having media of these kinds. Narrows the search, but does not guarantee a file is there: use Find images when every result must have one.
Made in or after (year)year_fromnumber: Optional. Only records dated to this year or later. The collection indexes dates by decade, so the search is widened to whole decades: 1918 searches from the 1910s, and the result says which decades it covered. Leave blank for no lower bound.From -4000 to 2100.
Made in or before (year)year_tonumber: Optional. Only records dated to this year or earlier, again widened to whole decades. Needs a 'Made in or after' year alongside it; leave both blank to search every date, or set only the lower bound to run from it to today.From -4000 to 2100.
Record typerecord_typetext: Optional. Restrict to one kind of record. Leave blank for all three.One of: edanmdm (Museum objects and specimens), ead_collection (Archival collections), ead_component (Items within archival collections).
Collection arearow_grouptext: Optional. The Smithsonian's own coarse split between things it holds and papers it archives. Leave blank for both.One of: objects (Objects, artifacts and specimens), archives (Archival collections and items).
Sort bysorttext: Optional. How to order the results. Best match by default. Note that the Smithsonian's 'newest' and 'recently updated' orders are approximate rather than strictly chronological.One of: relevancy (Best match), newest (Newest records first), updated (Recently updated first). Default: relevancy.
Number of recordslimitnumber: Optional. How many records to return. Between 1 and 1000; 20 by default.From 1 to 1000. Default: 20.
Skipoffsetnumber: Optional. How many matching records to skip before this page. Use the next offset from the previous result to page through. 0 by default.At least 0. Default: 0.

Outputs

countnumber: How many items are in this page.
decades_searchedlist: The decades the year range was widened to, because the collection indexes dates by decade. Empty when no year range was given.
has_moretrue/false: True when more matched than this page holds.
next_offsetnumber: The offset that fetches the next page. Null when this is the last one.
query_senttext: The query the filters were turned into, in the Smithsonian's own syntax. Useful for seeing exactly what was asked, and for pasting into the free-text search box to refine it by hand.
recordslist: The matching records in this page.
total_countnumber: How many items matched in total, across every page.

Example output

{
  "count": 1,
  "decades_searched": [],
  "has_more": true,
  "next_offset": 20,
  "query_sent": "(Art Blakey) AND unit_code:\"NMAAHC\"",
  "records": [
    {
      "cultures": [
        "African American"
      ],
      "dates": [
        "1970s"
      ],
      "details": [
        {
          "content": "Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture",
          "group": "creditLine",
          "label": "Credit Line"
        },
        {
          "content": "A drumstick with a brown plastic tip used by Art Blakey. H x W x D: 16 1/4 x 9/16 x 9/16 in.",
          "group": "physicalDescription",
          "label": "Description"
        }
      ],
      "edan_url": "edanmdm:nmaahc_2012.36.4ab",
      "guid": "http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a4-eeed-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa",
      "has_media": true,
      "id": "ld1-1643398738600-1643398746382-1",
      "indexed_at": "2022-01-28T18:58:58Z",
      "media": [
        {
          "alt_text": "",
          "description": "A drumstick with a brown plastic tip used by Art Blakey. The stick is wood and cylindrical with one rounded end and one tapered end.",
          "guid": "http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/az92fdf43d2-3862-48cc-bf42-48f8ab003d8f",
          "ids_id": "NMAAHC-FC21D77F2F702_5001",
          "image_url": "https://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?id=NMAAHC-FC21D77F2F702_5001",
          "media_id": "media:NMAAHC-FC21D77F2F702_5001",
          "media_type": "Images",
          "resources": [
            {
              "height": 2732,
              "label": "High-resolution JPEG",
              "url": "https://ids.si.edu/ids/download?id=NMAAHC-FC21D77F2F702_5001.jpg",
              "width": 4296
            },
            {
              "height": null,
              "label": "Screen Image",
              "url": "https://ids.si.edu/ids/download?id=NMAAHC-FC21D77F2F702_5001_screen",
              "width": null
            }
          ],
          "thumbnail_url": "https://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?id=NMAAHC-FC21D77F2F702_5001",
          "usage": "CC0"
        }
      ],
      "media_count": 1,
      "metadata_access": "CC0",
      "museum": "National Museum of African American History and Culture",
      "names": [
        "Blakey, Art"
      ],
      "object_types": [
        "Drumsticks"
      ],
      "online_media_types": [
        "Images"
      ],
      "other_index_terms": [],
      "places": [
        "United States"
      ],
      "record_id": "nmaahc_2012.36.4ab",
      "record_link": "https://www.si.edu/object/drumstick-used-art-blakey:nmaahc_2012.36.4ab",
      "record_type": "edanmdm",
      "title": "Drumstick used by Art Blakey",
      "topics": [
        "Jazz (Music)",
        "African American",
        "Music"
      ],
      "unit_code": "NMAAHC",
      "updated_at": "2022-09-21T18:29:24Z"
    }
  ],
  "total_count": 35
}

Smithsonian Open Access

ActionsCopy Anchor Link

Download a media fileCopy Anchor Link

Inputs

Outputs

Find imagesCopy Anchor Link

Inputs

Outputs

Get a random recordCopy Anchor Link

Inputs

Outputs

Get a recordCopy Anchor Link

Inputs

Outputs

Get Open Access statisticsCopy Anchor Link

Inputs

Outputs

Get records updated sinceCopy Anchor Link

Inputs

Outputs

List museums and archivesCopy Anchor Link

Inputs

Outputs

List search termsCopy Anchor Link

Inputs

Outputs

Search a categoryCopy Anchor Link

Inputs

Outputs

Search the collectionCopy Anchor Link

Inputs

Outputs

On this page

Actions

Download a media file

Find images

Get a random record

Get a record

Get Open Access statistics

Get records updated since

List museums and archives

List search terms

Search a category

Search the collection