Smithsonian Institution logo

Smithsonian Institution

The Smithsonian Institution provides open access APIs to its collections of over 22 million objects, artworks, and natural history specimens from 19 museums, 21 libraries, and 9 research centers. The Open Access API enables developers to search and retrieve collection data, images, and metadata across the world's largest museum and research complex.

1 APIs 1 Capabilities 0 Features
CollectionsCultural HeritageMuseumsOpen DataArtNatural HistoryResearch

APIs

Smithsonian Open Access API

The Smithsonian Open Access API provides programmatic access to the Smithsonian's publicly available collection data including objects, artworks, specimens, and related media ac...

Capabilities

Smithsonian Collection Discovery

Workflow capability for discovering and exploring Smithsonian Institution collections. Used by researchers, educators, and developers to search across 22 million museum objects,...

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Semantic Vocabularies

Smithsonian Institution Context

31 classes · 0 properties

JSON-LD

API Governance Rules

Smithsonian Institution API Rules

8 rules · 2 errors 6 warnings

SPECTRAL

Resources

🔗
Website
Website
🌐
Open Access Portal
Open Access Portal
🔧
Developer Tools
Developer Tools
👥
GitHub Organization
GitHub Organization
🔗
Data Repository
Data Repository
🔗
API Key Registration
API Key Registration
🔗
Python Client
Python Client
🔗
Metadata Documentation
Metadata Documentation

Sources

Raw ↑ 
aid: smithsonian-institution
name: Smithsonian Institution
description: >-
  The Smithsonian Institution provides open access APIs to its collections of
  over 22 million objects, artworks, and natural history specimens from 19
  museums, 21 libraries, and 9 research centers. The Open Access API enables
  developers to search and retrieve collection data, images, and metadata across
  the world's largest museum and research complex.
type: Index
image: https://kinlane-productions.s3.amazonaws.com/apis-json/apis-json-logo.jpg
tags:
  - Collections
  - Cultural Heritage
  - Museums
  - Open Data
  - Art
  - Natural History
  - Research
created: '2024-12-25'
modified: '2026-05-02'
url: >-
  https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/smithsonian-institution/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
specificationVersion: '0.19'
apis:
  - aid: smithsonian-institution:open-access-api
    name: Smithsonian Open Access API
    description: >-
      The Smithsonian Open Access API provides programmatic access to the
      Smithsonian's publicly available collection data including objects,
      artworks, specimens, and related media across its museums and research
      centers. Requires API key registration at api.data.gov.
    humanURL: https://www.si.edu/openaccess/devtools
    baseURL: https://edan.si.edu/openaccess
    tags:
      - Collections
      - Museums
      - Open Data
      - Search
      - Objects
      - Art
      - Natural History
    properties:
      - type: Documentation
        url: https://www.si.edu/openaccess/devtools
      - type: Documentation
        url: https://edan.si.edu/openaccess/docs/
      - type: GitHub Repository
        url: https://github.com/Smithsonian/smithsonian-openaccess
      - type: Sign Up
        url: https://api.data.gov/signup
      - type: OpenAPI
        url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/smithsonian-institution/refs/heads/main/openapi/smithsonian-open-access-openapi.yml

common:
  - type: Website
    url: https://www.si.edu/
  - type: Open Access Portal
    url: https://www.si.edu/openaccess
  - type: Developer Tools
    url: https://www.si.edu/openaccess/devtools
  - type: GitHub Organization
    url: https://github.com/Smithsonian
  - type: Data Repository
    url: https://github.com/Smithsonian/OpenAccess
  - type: API Key Registration
    url: https://api.data.gov/signup
  - type: Python Client
    url: https://github.com/Smithsonian/smithsonian-openaccess
  - type: Metadata Documentation
    url: https://edan.si.edu/openaccess/docs/

maintainers:
  - FN: Kin Lane
    email: [email protected]