archival-imagery-mcp

An MCP server for browsing and downloading open-licensed imagery from six major museum and archive APIs. Built for editorial projects that need authored, archival visual material instead of AI-generated stock.

What this is

When Claude or any other MCP-compatible client needs imagery for an editorial project — a service site, a long-form article, a brand book, a deck — generating images from scratch usually produces something that reads as AI. For brands with editorial bona fides, that signal is fatal.

This server gives the assistant a different option: search the world's open-access museum collections for authored, attributed, often-centuries-old imagery and download it straight into the project's public/ folder. Most results are CC0, CC-BY, or Public Domain Mark — usable with no licensing friction.

Sources

Source	Coverage	API Key	License Defaults
Wellcome Collection	UK. Medical, scientific, esoteric, astrological history. ~250k items.	No	CC-BY / PDM
Met Museum	US. Open Access program. ~470k objects, all CC0 when public domain.	No	CC0
Library of Congress	US. Photos, manuscripts, maps, prints, newspapers, film. ~1M items.	No	Mostly PD
Smithsonian Open Access	US. 4.5M+ CC0 items across 21 museums.	Free	CC0
Europeana	EU aggregator — British Library, Louvre, full Rijksmuseum collection, plus 4000+ institutions.	Free	Mixed (filterable)

Note on Rijksmuseum: the Rijksmuseum's REST API was deprecated in 2024 in favour of OAI-PMH (an XML harvesting protocol designed for institutional bulk-download, not query-by-keyword). Rather than re-implement on a less query-friendly protocol, this server intentionally omits direct Rijksmuseum support. Europeana fully indexes the Rijksmuseum collection — query it via europeana_search with provider="Rijksmuseum".

Installation

From npm (recommended)

No install step needed if you have Node 18+ — just point your MCP client at npx:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "archival-imagery": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "archival-imagery-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "SMITHSONIAN_API_KEY": "your-key-here-or-omit",
        "EUROPEANA_API_KEY": "your-key-here-or-omit"
      }
    }
  }
}

Or install once globally:

npm install -g archival-imagery-mcp

Then use "command": "archival-imagery-mcp" (no args needed) in your config.

API keys are all optional — Wellcome, Met, and Library of Congress work without keys. Smithsonian and Europeana tools return a helpful error message with the signup URL if their key is missing.

From source (for development / custom builds)

git clone https://github.com/chandhoke/archival-imagery-mcp.git
cd archival-imagery-mcp
npm install

Then point your MCP config at the local path:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "archival-imagery": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/archival-imagery-mcp/index.mjs"]
    }
  }
}

Getting the optional API keys

All free, all take under 2 minutes:

• Smithsonian: api.data.gov/signup/ — email confirmation. The same key works for NASA, NOAA, FCC, and most US government APIs.
• Europeana: pro.europeana.eu/page/get-api — instant. Covers British Library, Rijksmuseum, Louvre, and 4000+ other institutions in one endpoint.

Tools (12 total)

Search & retrieval

Tool	Source	Needs Key
wellcome_search	Wellcome	—
wellcome_get_work	Wellcome	—
wellcome_image_url	Wellcome (utility)	—
met_search	Met	—
met_get_object	Met	—
loc_search	Library of Congress	—
loc_get_item	Library of Congress	—
smithsonian_search	Smithsonian	✓
smithsonian_get_object	Smithsonian	✓
europeana_search	Europeana	✓
europeana_get_record	Europeana	✓

Shared utility

Tool	Purpose
download_image	Save any image URL (from any of the above) to a local path. Creates parent dirs automatically.

Usage examples (natural language)

Once installed, just describe what you want and the assistant picks the right tool:

"Find Indian astrology pieces at the Met that we could use on /method — show me 5."

"Search Wellcome for nakshatra diagrams and save the best two to my project's public/brand/ folder."

"Use Europeana with provider='Rijksmuseum' to find Vermeer paintings — I want a portrait for the about page."

"Use Europeana to find anything from the British Library tagged 'Sanskrit manuscript' — only CC0/CC-BY please."

Attribution

When using imagery from any of these sources in published work, always check the per-item license (returned with every result) and follow its attribution requirements. Most CC-BY items only need a short credit line:

Imagery courtesy of [Source] (CC BY 4.0).

CC0 / Public Domain Mark items have no attribution requirement but crediting the source is good practice.

Architecture

• Single-file MCP server (index.mjs), ~400 lines
• Native fetch (Node 18+), no HTTP library dependency
• Only one dependency: @modelcontextprotocol/sdk
• No telemetry, no persistent state, no auth required for the server itself
• Stateless — every tool call hits the upstream API fresh

Extending

To add another source (e.g. New York Public Library Digital Collections, DPLA, Gallica):

1. Add a section under // ========================================================================= with xyzSearch, xyzGetObject functions
2. Add an env-var helper if it needs a key (use the existing requireKey pattern)
3. Add entries to the TOOLS array with clear descriptions
4. Add entries to the HANDLERS map

~50 lines per new source.

License

MIT © Harpreet Chandhoke

This server is a client for third-party APIs. Each source has its own terms — respect them in your usage. The MIT license applies only to this server code, not to the content retrieved.