We have a range of APIs and endpoints for accessing MDS data. Which one is best for your purposes?
To access information about museums and descriptions of their collections – Explore museums
Explore Museums provides basic data and links to museum records in JSON format.
You can set a per_page parameter (max 100 by default), e.g. https://museumdata.uk/wp-json/wp/v2/museums?per_page=25 and navigate with a page parameter, e.g. https://museumdata.uk/wp-json/wp/v2/museums?per_page=25&page=2
You can also access a museum page directly using its Wikidata ID in a URL, e.g. for the Wikidata ID Q3552548, you’d writehttps://museumdata.uk/wp-json/wp/v2/museums?slug=q3552548
To access information about individual collection items – get an API token for Object Search
The Search API provides interactive, parameter-driven access to the entire Museum Data Service dataset. It’s designed for searching and filtering records based on keywords, fields, and logical operators (AND, OR, NOT, etc.). It returns summary results suitable for display or browsing, with the option to fetch full records via a separate endpoint.
At the bottom of the object search results page, there is a link to ‘Get an API token’. Follow that and fill in a short form that includes a declaration that you will respect the licensing terms applied to the records you plan to use. We’d love to know how you plan to use the data, so please give us a couple of lines that help us understand what users need from MDS. We do read your comments, and they do help us improve our services!
You can email the API token to yourself along with the query. The Object Search API documentation is on Swagger.
Use the Search API when you need to query or explore the data dynamically — for example, building a website search, testing filters, or retrieving a small, focused set of records.
To download full datasets for offline use – use the Extract API
The Extract API fprovides a bulk harvesting mechanism. It’s designed to download full datasets matching a saved search, using a resumption token obtained directly from the MDS website. The token allows you to step through the results in batches until the full set is retrieved.
- Extract API endpoint: https://mds-data-2.ciim.k-int.com/api/v2/search
- Extract API documentation on Swagger: https://mds-data-2.ciim.k-int.com/api/docs
Use this API when you need to collect or synchronise large numbers of records for offline analysis, research, or ingestion into another system.
Want to work with object data but you’re not all that geeky?
You can download Object Search results in a spreadsheet format (CSV) from the bottom of the search results page. Find out more in our data FAQs.
Just want to search and browse different datasets?
Check out Explore collections and Search objects.
Please respect the licences for museum data
We work to meet museums where they are, which sometimes means that data reuse conditions might have some restrictions e.g. CC-BY or CC-NC. Please respect the conditions as set out in our Search API terms and fair use guidance.
If you find that a specific museum’s license is limiting your ability to innovate with their records, please get in touch and tell us more.