# V\&A Museum Scraper — Objects, Makers & Images (`hipersoft/vam-scraper`) Actor

Search the Victoria and Albert Museum collection and export object data: title, maker, date, object type, place, museum location and high-resolution image URL. One clean row per object as JSON, CSV or Excel.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/hipersoft/vam-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [hiper soft](https://apify.com/hipersoft) (community)
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.00075 / object scraped

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## V\&A Museum Scraper — Objects, Makers & Images

Search the **Victoria and Albert Museum** (the V\&A) — the world's leading museum of art, design and performance — and export object data as clean, structured rows. Get title, maker, date, object type, place of origin, current museum location and a **high-resolution image URL** for each object. Export to **JSON, CSV or Excel**, or pull straight from the API.

Perfect for **art and design research, digital collections, moodboards and inspiration, education, and building image datasets** for computer vision.

***

### What you get

One flat, ready-to-use record per object:

| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| `systemNumber` / `accessionNumber` / `objectUrl` | IDs and museum page |
| `title` | Object title |
| `objectType` | What it is (chair, textile, print…) |
| `maker` / `makerAssociation` | Maker and their role |
| `date` | Creation date |
| `place` | Place of origin |
| `currentLocation` / `onDisplay` | Where it is in the museum |
| `imageUrl` | High-resolution image (IIIF) |
| `thumbnail` | Thumbnail URL |
| `query` | The keyword that produced the row |
| `collectedAt` | When the row was scraped |

***

### How to use

```json
{
  "searchQueries": ["william morris", "kimono"],
  "imagesOnly": true,
  "maxItems": 200
}
```

- **Search keywords** — search by maker, object, style or place. Leave empty to browse the whole collection.
- **Only items with images** — restrict to objects that have an image.
- **Max objects** — cap the total (0 = no limit; the scraper pages through results).

***

### Example output

```json
{
  "systemNumber": "O72610",
  "title": "Bird and Anemone",
  "objectType": "Furnishing fabric",
  "maker": "William Morris",
  "date": "1882",
  "place": "Great Britain",
  "imageUrl": "https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/…/full/full/0/default.jpg",
  "objectUrl": "https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O72610/",
  "collectedAt": "2026-09-20T23:00:00.000Z"
}
```

***

### Common use cases

- **Art & design research** — study makers, styles and objects across the collection.
- **Digital collections** — index parts of the collection with images and metadata.
- **Moodboards & inspiration** — source design imagery by theme, maker or era.
- **Computer-vision datasets** — assemble labelled art/design image sets.
- **Education** — build study sets and reference sheets with pictures.

***

### Frequently asked questions

**Do I need any login, account or key?** No. Just add keywords and run.

**Can I get the images?** Yes — each row includes a high-resolution `imageUrl`.

**How many objects can I get?** Set **Max objects** to whatever you need (0 = no limit) — the collection has over a million records.

**Can I browse without a keyword?** Yes — leave the keywords empty to browse the whole collection.

**What format is the data?** A flat table you can export as JSON, CSV or Excel, or fetch from the Apify API.

***

### Related scrapers

Building a culture toolkit? Pair this with our Art Institute of Chicago, Met Museum and Cleveland Museum of Art scrapers — all with the same clean, one-row-per-item output.

# Actor input Schema

## `searchQueries` (type: `array`):

Search the V\&A collection by keyword — maker, object, style or place, e.g. 'william morris', 'chair', 'kimono'. Each keyword runs its own search. Leave empty to browse the whole collection.

## `imagesOnly` (type: `boolean`):

Restrict results to objects that have an image.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of objects to collect across all keywords (0 = no limit).

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "searchQueries": [
    "william morris"
  ],
  "imagesOnly": true,
  "maxItems": 100
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

The results as dataset items.

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "searchQueries": [
        "william morris"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("hipersoft/vam-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "searchQueries": ["william morris"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("hipersoft/vam-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "searchQueries": [
    "william morris"
  ]
}' |
apify call hipersoft/vam-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,hipersoft/vam-scraper"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/JvI6DhStyvQy2xP7i/builds/08yic8jBujuPcpjbW/openapi.json