Library of Congress Search Scraper

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Search and retrieve items from the Library of Congress digital collections (loc.gov) — millions of digitized books, photographs, maps, manuscripts, audio recordings, and more. Free, no API key required.

What does this actor do?

This actor lets you:

• Search across all LOC digital collections by keyword with optional format and date filters.
• Browse a specific collection (maps, photos, manuscripts, books, newspapers, etc.).
• Fetch specific items by their LOC item IDs for detailed metadata.

Data Source

All data is retrieved from the Library of Congress public JSON API:

• Search API: https://www.loc.gov/search/?q={query}&fo=json
• Collection API: https://www.loc.gov/collections/{collection}/?fo=json
• Item API: https://www.loc.gov/item/{id}/?fo=json

All endpoints are freely accessible without authentication.

Input

Example Inputs

Search for Civil War photographs:

{
"mode":"search",
"query":"civil war photographs",
"onlineFormat":"image",
"dateFrom":1861,
"dateTo":1865,
"maxItems":50
}

Browse the maps collection:

{
"mode":"browseCollection",
"collection":"maps",
"dateFrom":1800,
"dateTo":1900,
"maxItems":100
}

Fetch specific items by ID:

{
"mode":"byIds",
"itemIds":["2002719523","2017769894"],
"maxItems":10
}

Output

Each item in the dataset contains:

Example Output

{
"id":"2002719523",
"url":"https://www.loc.gov/item/2002719523/",
"title":"Map of Washington DC, 1861",
"description":"Detailed topographical map of the nation's capital during the Civil War",
"subject":["maps","Washington DC","Civil War","1861"],
"creator":"U.S. Army Corps of Engineers",
"date":"1861",
"language":["eng"],
"type":"map",
"format":["image/jpeg"],
"rights":"Public Domain",
"image_url":"https://tile.loc.gov/image-services/iiif/map.jpg",
"online_formats":["image"],
"collection_name":"Maps Collection",
"location":["Washington DC"],
"coordinates":"38.89511,-77.03637",
"scrapedAt":"2026-01-15T10:30:00+00:00"
}

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this free to use? Yes. The Library of Congress provides a completely free JSON API with no authentication required.

What collections can I browse? Maps, Photos, Manuscripts, Books, Notated Music, Newspapers, Audio Recordings, Films & Videos, Legislation, Prints & Photographs, American Memory, and the general LOC Collection.

How many items can I retrieve? Up to 2,000 items per run using the maxItems parameter.

Can I filter by date? Yes — use dateFrom and dateTo with year values (e.g. 1800, 1950).

Can I filter by format? Yes — use the onlineFormat filter to narrow to images, audio, video, PDFs, web pages, or maps.

What are item IDs? Every LOC item has a unique identifier visible in its URL (e.g. loc.gov/item/2002719523/). Use these IDs in byIds mode to retrieve specific items.

Does this work for newspaper searches? Yes — browse the newspapers collection or search with relevant keywords. For full newspaper content, consider using the Chronicling America API.

Use Cases

• Digital humanities research on LOC collections
• Building photo/map databases from historical records
• Tracking legislative documents and bill records
• Academic research using primary source materials
• Finding digitized manuscripts and rare books
• Geographic research using historical maps with coordinates
• Building educational datasets from public domain materials