This repo was created to build new interactive, collaborative applications that use the Smithsonian Institution Open Access API.
On February 25, 2020, the Smithsonian launched Open Access, releasing 2.8 million 2D and 3D images and 173-years of staff-created data into the public domain as Creative Commons Zero. Open Access furthers the Smithsonian’s mission which has been the same since its founding in 1846: for the "increase and diffusion of knowledge."
The Open Access API was released as part of the launch allowing you to connect to the 2.8 million "open access” collections and corresponding metadata. This is a CC0 subset of the Smithsonian’s 155 million objects, 2.1 million library volumes and 156,000 cubic feet of archival collections held in 19 museums, 9 research centers, libraries, archives and the National Zoo. Digitization of collections is ongoing.
Update 2/23/2021
The Open Access Search tool and the Open Access API share Accession Number which can be used to load image assets. Suppose you want to find "masks", go to Smithsonian Open Access and enter "mask".
The detail page has an Accession Number on the right hand side.
I used the Accession Number 1952-76-2 in the API POC I wrote.
To test this:
conda activate smith
cd smith-api-poc
cd src
python get_content.py
Which returns the following JSON snippet:
"media": [
{
"thumbnail": "https://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?id=CHSDM-9BFC7BDCAAE92-000001",
"idsId": "CHSDM-9BFC7BDCAAE92-000001",
"usage": {
"access": "CC0"
},
"guid": "http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/vc9f8023858-3a20-49f7-b89f-717438b5a60a",
"type": "Images",
"content": "https://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?id=CHSDM-9BFC7BDCAAE92-000001",The image URL matches the "content" URL.
Owning Units are internal Smithsonian acronyms. Below are a list of codes to descriptions.
- AAA -- Archives of American Art
- ACM -- Anacostia Community Museum
- CFCHFOLKLIFE -- Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections
- CHNDM -- Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
- EEPA -- Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives
- FBR -- Smithsonian Field Book Project
- FSG -- Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
- HAC -- Smithsonian Gardens
- HMSG -- Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
- HSFA -- Human Studies Film Archives
- NAA -- National Anthropological Archives
- NASM -- National Air and Space Museum
- NMAAHC -- National Museum of African American History and Culture
- NMAH -- National Museum of American History
- NMAI -- National Museum of the American Indian
- NMAfA -- National Museum of African Art
- NMNH --- National Museum of Natural History
- NMNHANTHRO -- NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
- NMNHBIRDS -- NMNH - Vertebrate Zoology - Birds Division
- NMNHBOTANY -- NMNH - Botany Dept.
- NMNHEDUCATION -- NMNH - Education & Outreach
- NMNHENTO -- NMNH - Entomology Dept.
- NMNHFISHES -- NMNH - Vertebrate Zoology - Fishes Division
- NMNHHERPS -- NMNH - Vertebrate Zoology - Herpetology Division
- NMNHINV -- NMNH - Invertebrate Zoology Dept.
- NMNHMAMMALS -- NMNH - Vertebrate Zoology - Mammals Division
- NMNHMINSCI -- NMNH - Mineral Sciences Dept.
- NMNHPALEO -- NMNH - Paleobiology Dept.
- NPG -- National Portrait Gallery
- NPM -- National Postal Museum
- NZP -- Smithsonian's National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute
- SAAM -- Smithsonian American Art Museum
- SIA -- Smithsonian Institution Archives
- SIL -- Smithsonian Libraries
The repo Smithsonian Open Access Metadata Repository (GitHub) contains over 11 million metadata records from the Smithsonian Institution serialized as line-delimited JSON and compressed into bzip2 format.
My theories on this repo:
- Downloading this repo is similair in concept to executing 11 million REST API calls or some huge number of REST Api calls.
- One could build a database from the 11 million metadata records and use the this database as a fast index cache to search the Smithsonian's assets quickly.
- 8 Great Interactive Art Experiences to Get Us Through the Winter Doldrums
- Virtual Smithsonian
- Open Access Developer Tools
- COOPER HEWITT INTERACTION LAB PRESENTS: ACTIVATING SMITHSONIAN OPEN ACCESS
- ACTIVATING SMITHSONIAN OPEN ACCESS: INFORMATION SESSION