cultural-heritage
Smithsonian Open Access
Open Access records from across all the Smithsonian museums, combining collection metadata with CC0 media that can be reused freely. Searching happens on the Smithsonian site; an API exists, keyed through api.data.gov. Valuable for finding reusable museum imagery and object records in one place. Currently degraded — expect possible CAPTCHA interruptions.
No programmatic check — opens the archive’s own search.
Why it’s useful & how it works
Niche/link-catalogue tier (see product-concept): surfaced as a described link to its search form. Probe verdict recorded for liveness.
API access
https://api.si.edu/openaccess/api/v1.0/search (api.data.gov key)
An API key is required — usually free; see the endpoints above for where to get one.
Access
May require solving a captcha before it responds.