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loc.gov API

loc.gov has 2 public methods: search Library of Congress collections and search historic newspapers. Each costs 1 credit per completed run (1¢ with pay as you go); failed runs are free.

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Unofficial. Not affiliated with or endorsed by loc.gov.

Methods

2

  • Search Library of Congress collections

    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.

    Returns title, date, format, creators or contributors, summary, rights and usage, thumbnail, item link

    Readloc.gov/search_collections

  • Search historic newspapers

    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.

    Returns newspaper title, city, state, issue date, page number, snippet, page image link, page link

    Readloc.gov/search_historic_newspapers