Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Open Access
Smithsonian open collections
Object metadata and open media across art, history, science, libraries, and archives for studying collecting, classification, donation, place, and digitization bias.
“Whom does a national museum's digital history center, and whom does it leave out?”
AWS metadata refreshed weekly
5M+ digital items · 21 museums and research units
No-login AWS archive / free API key
CC0 for assets and data designated Open Access
JSONL · IIIF · JPG / TIFF · glTF / OBJ
CC0 for assets and data explicitly designated Smithsonian Open Access
CC0 does not require credit; preserve title, creator, Smithsonian unit, accession number, and source URL as a best practice.
The old GitHub metadata repository was archived on 2026-05-21; use the AWS open-data route that remains on a weekly refresh. Use the Open Access FAQ to confirm the CC0 mark item by item, then review trademark, privacy, publicity, cultural-sensitivity, and third-party rights.