# National Archives API: Search records > Searches public National Archives Catalog records by keywords, year range, material type and online availability, in catalog relevance order. Unofficial. Not affiliated with or endorsed by National Archives. - Page: https://fous.com/methods/catalog.archives.gov/search-records - Method: `catalog.archives.gov/search_records`, version 1 - Website: catalog.archives.gov - Returns: title, date, record type, creating agency, record group, description, image links, catalog link, NAID - Effect: read (it gets data and changes nothing) - Sign-in: none needed - Cost: 1 credit per completed run (1ยข with pay as you go); failed runs are free - Verified: Nov 2, 2026 ## Inputs | Field | Type | Required | In the run below | Description | |---|---|---|---|---| | `page` | integer | no | | Page of matching results, for example 2. Default 1. | | `query` | string | yes | `"Apollo 11"` | Keywords to find in catalog records, for example Apollo 11. | | `end_year` | integer | no | | Latest year to search, for example 1969. | | `start_year` | integer | no | | Earliest year to search, for example 1960. | | `max_results` | integer | no | | Number of records per page, for example 20. Default 20. | | `online_only` | boolean | no | | Whether to include only digitized records, for example true. Default false. | | `record_type` | string | no | | Material type to include, for example photographs. One of "any", "textual records", "photographs", "maps", "moving images", "sound recordings". Default "any". | ## Output From a run on Oct 23, 2026, shortened. Its input: ```json { "query": "Apollo 11" } ``` Its output: ```json { "records": [ { "date": null, "title": "Apollo 11", "digitized": true, "image_links": [], "record_type": "Moving Images", "catalog_link": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/7500", "record_group": "Record Group 40: General Records of the Department of Commerce", "creating_agency": "Department of Commerce. Office of Public Affairs. Audiovisual Division. (ca. 1990 - ca. 1996)", "short_description": null, "national_archives_identifier": "7500" }, { "date": "July 22, 2014", "title": "Apollo 11", "digitized": true, "image_links": [ "https://catalog.archives.gov/medialz/presidential-libraries/obama/bho-ero/217848857/Twitter_Shin-Inouye_2014-07-22_03.jpg" ], "record_type": "Photographs and other Graphic Materials", "catalog_link": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/231832753", "record_group": "Collection BHO-ERO: Electronic Records of the Office of the President (Obama Administration)", "creating_agency": "President (2009-2017 : Obama). Office of Communications. (1/20/2009 - 1/20/2017)", "short_description": "Original post: Statement by the President on Meeting with the Crew and Family of #Apollo11: wh.gov/lMkoQ #Apollo45 pic.twitter.com/UJAQSINFwN", "national_archives_identifier": "231832753" }, { "date": "1969", "title": "Apollo 11 Commemorative Token", "digitized": true, "image_links": [ "https://catalog.archives.gov/medialz/presidential-libraries/obama/bho-ac/132981130/Batch0002/132981130_202011_001.JPG", "https://catalog.archives.gov/medialz/presidential-libraries/obama/bho-ac/132981130/Batch0002/132981130_202011_002.JPG" ], "record_type": "Artifacts", "catalog_link": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/219756158", "record_group": "Collection BHO-AC: Barack Obama Artifact Collection", "creating_agency": "National Archives and Records Administration. Office of the Chief Operating Officer. Legislative Archives, Presidential Libraries, and Museum Services. Office of Presidential Libraries. Barack Obama Presidential Library. (2016 - )", "short_description": "Commemorative token for the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing. The token is gold in color with the embossed image of the lunar module on the moon's surface and two astronauts on the front. The back has an embossed quote from Neil Armstrong over the image of the moon.", "national_archives_identifier": "219756158" } ] } ``` ## Run it From code, with a Fous API key in `FOUS_API_KEY`; the answer's `data` holds the output: ```bash curl https://api.fous.com/v1/runs \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $FOUS_API_KEY" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{"method":"catalog.archives.gov/search_records","input":{"query":"Apollo 11"}}' ``` From an AI agent connected to the Fous MCP server: its `run` with the same method and input. To connect one, give it `set up https://fous.com/SKILL.md`. ## Ask your agent - Find digitized photographs from the 1960s about the Apollo 11 mission in the National Archives catalog - Show me online-only textual records on the Civil War from 1861 to 1865 - I need National Archives maps of Washington D.C. from the 1800s, sorted by relevance - Search archives.gov for moving images covering the Vietnam War between 1965 and 1973 - Look up sound recordings in the National Archives catalog about the Great Depression, 1929 to 1939, 25 results per page ## Input schema ```json { "type": "object", "required": [ "query" ], "properties": { "page": { "type": "integer", "default": 1, "minimum": 1, "description": "Page of matching results, for example 2." }, "query": { "type": "string", "minLength": 1, "description": "Keywords to find in catalog records, for example Apollo 11." }, "end_year": { "type": "integer", "maximum": 2100, "minimum": 1, "description": "Latest year to search, for example 1969." }, "start_year": { "type": "integer", "maximum": 2100, "minimum": 1, "description": "Earliest year to search, for example 1960." }, "max_results": { "type": "integer", "default": 20, "maximum": 100, "minimum": 1, "description": "Number of records per page, for example 20." }, "online_only": { "type": "boolean", "default": false, "description": "Whether to include only digitized records, for example true." }, "record_type": { "enum": [ "any", "textual records", "photographs", "maps", "moving images", "sound recordings" ], "type": "string", "default": "any", "description": "Material type to include, for example photographs." } } } ``` ## Output schema ```json { "type": "object", "required": [ "records" ], "properties": { "records": { "type": "array", "items": { "type": "object", "required": [ "title", "date", "record_type", "creating_agency", "record_group", "short_description", "digitized", "image_links", "catalog_link", "national_archives_identifier" ], "properties": { "date": { "type": [ "string", "null" ] }, "title": { "type": "string" }, "digitized": { "type": "boolean" }, "image_links": { "type": "array", "items": { "type": "string" } }, "record_type": { "type": [ "string", "null" ] }, "catalog_link": { "type": "string" }, "record_group": { "type": [ "string", "null" ] }, "creating_agency": { "type": [ "string", "null" ] }, "short_description": { "type": [ "string", "null" ] }, "national_archives_identifier": { "type": "string" } }, "additionalProperties": false }, "description": "Matching catalog records in relevance order." } }, "additionalProperties": false } ``` ## See more - [NASA API: Search media](https://fous.com/methods/nasa.gov/search-images.md): Searches NASA public photos, videos or audio by words and creation year, returning matches in relevance order with thumbnails and full-size file links. - [loc.gov API: Search historic newspapers](https://fous.com/methods/loc.gov/search-historic-newspapers.md): Searches historic U.S. newspaper pages (Chronicling America) by text, with optional state and issue-year filters. Returns relevance-ranked page records with snippets and image links; newspaper OCR may contain transcription errors. - [loc.gov API: Search Library of Congress collections](https://fous.com/methods/loc.gov/search-collections.md): Searches Library of Congress digital collections by keywords, material format and date range, in Library search relevance order. Rights notes may be unavailable for some records. - [The National Archives API: Search judgments](https://fous.com/methods/caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/search-judgments.md): Searches UK court judgments and tribunal decisions on Find Case Law by keywords or party names. Results can be filtered by court and by judgment date. - [NIH API: Search grants](https://fous.com/methods/reporter.nih.gov/search-grants.md): Finds NIH research grants by topic, organisation, or researcher name. Searches the last five fiscal years by default. - [NPR API: Search news](https://fous.com/methods/npr.org/search-news.md): Searches NPR-published articles by keyword, newest first or by best match, with optional publication dates, and returns each article's date, authors, section and summary. - [Internet Archive API: List archived snapshots of a page](https://fous.com/methods/web.archive.org/list-snapshots.md): Lists Wayback Machine captures of a web page, oldest first, with HTTP status and whether the content changed since the previous capture. - [The New York Times API: Search articles](https://fous.com/methods/nytimes.com/search-news.md): Searches New York Times article headlines and summaries by keyword, optionally within a date range, and returns matching articles with dates, authors, sections and links, newest or most relevant first.