Library of Congress Search Scraper

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

Field	Type	Description
mode	Select	search, browseCollection, or byIds
query	String	Search keywords (e.g. "american history photographs", "civil war maps")
collection	Select	Collection to browse: maps, photos, manuscripts, books, newspapers, audio, films, etc.
onlineFormat	Select	Filter by format: image, audio, video, pdf, online-text, web-page, map
dateFrom	Integer	Filter from this year (e.g. 1800)
dateTo	Integer	Filter to this year (e.g. 1950)
itemIds	Array	Specific LOC item IDs (for byIds mode)
maxItems	Integer	Max items to return (default: 50, max: 2000)

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:

Field	Description
id	LOC item identifier
url	Direct URL to the item page
title	Item title
description	Description or summary
subject	Subject terms (up to 10)
creator	Primary creator or author
contributor	Additional contributors (up to 5)
date	Creation or publication date
language	Language code(s)
type	Item type (map, photograph, book, etc.)
format	File format(s) (up to 5)
rights	Rights and access information
image_url	Thumbnail or primary image URL
online_formats	Available online formats
collection_name	Name of the collection it belongs to
location	Geographic location(s) (up to 3)
coordinates	Geographic coordinates (if available)
scrapedAt	ISO 8601 timestamp of when data was scraped

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