RevolutionCrossroads/si_us_revolutionary_era_collections

Dataset Card for Smithsonian American Revolutionary Era Collections

Dataset Summary

A specially selected subset of the Smithsonian’s Open Access collections covering objects from 1770–1810 selected for the Revolution Crossroads project in honor of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. Drawn from four museums—the National Museum of American History, National Postal Museum, Smithsonian American Art Museum, and National Portrait Gallery—the dataset includes 12,667 records with descriptive metadata and nearly 4,000 linked images. It provides a foundation for exploring Revolutionary-era material culture and developing multimodal research and analysis tools.

Dataset Description

The Smithsonian Revolutionary Era Collections dataset is a specially selected subset of the Smithsonian’s Open Access corpus, created as part of the Revolution Crossroads project in honor of the 250th anniversary of the United States.

It brings together descriptive records and related images from across four Smithsonian museums—the National Museum of American History, the National Postal Museum, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the National Portrait Gallery—that roughly date to the period 1770–1810, the era of the American Revolution and early republic.

The dataset includes: - 12,667 records describing museum objects and archival items - Metadata fields converted from Smithsonian Open Access JSON to Parquet format for analysis - 3,941 records linked to digital surrogates (thumbnail images and full object files)

This dataset was assembled to support research and experimentation at the intersection of cultural heritage and artificial intelligence. It provides a structured corpus for exploring American Revolutionary-era material culture, testing multimodal approaches that link descriptive metadata with images, and developing tools for analysis, visualization, and discovery.

Dataset Details

• Prepared by: Smithsonian Institution, Office of Digital & Innovation staff
• Shared by: Revolution Crossroads
• Language(s): English
• License: CC0-1.0

Dataset Sources

• Repository: Smithsonian Open Access, Smithsonian Institution
• Records contributed by:
  • National Museum of American History
  • National Postal Museum
  • Smithsonian American Art Museum
  • National Portrait Gallery
• Access Path: All records were retrieved through the Smithsonian Open Access API

Curation Rationale

This dataset was curated to support the Revolution Crossroads project, which explores the Revolutionary and early republic period in recognition of the 250th anniversary of the United States.

The goal was to assemble a cross-museum dataset that: - Highlights objects dating between 1770–1810, the years spanning the American Revolution and early republic - Brings together holdings from across Smithsonian museums to allow comparative and cross-collection analysis - Focuses on descriptive metadata and images, fields most likely to support research, teaching, and machine learning applications - Provides a manageable, structured corpus for use in AI and digital humanities experimentation, rather than exposing the full complexity of Smithsonian Open Access

Because of these qualities, the dataset lends itself to a range of applications, including: - Exploring late Colonial and early American material culture through museum object metadata and images - Studying connections between objects, people, places, and themes represented in Smithsonian collections - Developing multimodal tools that combine descriptive metadata with linked images - Training and evaluating models for image classification, metadata-based clustering, or information retrieval in cultural heritage contexts - Supporting educational and public history projects that highlight Smithsonian holdings from the Revolutionary era

Dataset Creation

The Smithsonian Revolutionary Era Collections dataset was created by identifying objects and artwork records dated to the period 1770–1810 across four Smithsonian museums, in collaboration with curators and collections staff. Once the target lists of objects were compiled, the corresponding records were retrieved through Smithsonian Open Access.

National Postal Museum Smithsonian American Art Museum National Portrait Gallery - These museums were able to generate relatively complete listings of Revolutionary-era holdings.

National Museum of American History (NMAH) - NMAH records required additional review. - Date fields are free-text and uncontrolled, making searching difficult. - As a result: - Some non-period materials were swept up in initial searches (e.g., objects about the Revolutionary era but created later) - Manual cleanup was used to exclude broad ranges that fell mostly outside of scope (e.g., “1800–1900”) and replicas/commemoratives where identifiable - Some true period objects may still be missing due to incomplete or provisional records

Notes on Completeness

The dataset is not comprehensive. It represents the subset of Revolutionary-era records identifiable at the time of creation, filtered with curatorial input. Future cataloging work may surface additional relevant objects.

Data Collection and Processing

Processing Steps

• Retrieved JSON records from Open Access for each identified object
• Flattened and converted to Parquet format for efficient analysis
• Retained only fields most relevant to anticipated uses (e.g., title, date, object type, place, names, topics, identifiers, media references)
• Preserved mediaCount, mediaURLs, and thumbnail fields to allow linking to images
• Maintained free-text contextual fields (e.g., date, objectType, name) alongside parallel indexed_* fields for normalized values

Supporting Files Available

JSON-formatted data from Open Access are available in the Files tab:

• "api_json" - contains the JSON output of the records from the dataset, stored in directories for each of the 4 museums included. The file naming convention is "[unit]_[object_number].json", with the object number and unit abbreviation from the records. In the main dataset, the object_number may be found in the "EDANid" fields after "edanndm:".

.jpg format media files retrieved via Open Access are available in the Files tab:

• "media" contains .jpg files for all media from the included records. The file names are unchanged from retrieval and reflect different naming practices of each museum, but generally include the museum acronym, an ID number, and often an appended number or letter if there are multiple images for a single record. In the main dataset, the associated image file names may be found as "id" in the "media_url" fields.

Quality Considerations

• The dataset was not normalized or corrected
• Some non-period records may remain, and some relevant ones may be missing
• Metadata inconsistencies reflect differences in cataloging practice across museums

Dataset Structure

The dataset consists of two main components. Descriptive Records - 12,667 records representing museum objects and archival items - Originally in JSON via Smithsonian Open Access, converted to Parquet for analysis and ease of loading - Each record corresponds to a single object/item - Includes Smithsonian metadata fields such as title, description, date, place, subject terms, medium, dimensions, and credit line - Each record has a catalog number or identifier (not guaranteed unique)

Linked Images - 3,941 records include digital surrogates (thumbnail images and links to full object files) - Images are referenced by URL and can be retrieved directly from Smithsonian servers - Image file names and URLs are tied to their parent object record via identifier

File Organization - Parquet files contain the flattened descriptive metadata - Image links are stored within the metadata fields; no image files are bundled in the dataset - The dataset can be loaded directly into a dataframe-style environment for analysis, with image references resolvable via URL

Data Fields

Core Descriptive Fields

collectionsURL (string)
Public Smithsonian Collections record URL.
Example: https://collections.si.edu/search/detail/edanmdm:nmah_1316741

unitCode (string) Contributing museum code.
Example: NMAH

dataSource (string)
Human-readable name of the contributing museum/unit.
Example: National Museum of American History

title (string)
Cataloged title of the object.
Example: George Washington commemorative medal

EDANid (string)
EDAN record identifier (not a URL).
Example: edanmdm:nmah_1316741

guid (string)
Persistent GUID/ARK resolver URL.
Example: http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746b1-4fbb-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

recordLink (string)
Unit website record URL. May not be present for all records - use guid instead. Example: https://postalmuseum.si.edu/object/npm_2024.2006.0.1

lastUpdateDate (date)
Date the record was last updated in Open Access.
Example: 2023-07-15

Descriptive Content

creditLine (string)
Credit or source line, often with a contextual label.
Example: Credit Line: Gift of Mrs. John Doe, 1905

date (string)
Date information with contextual labels.
Example: Date made: 1776

identifier (string)
Catalog/reference identifiers with labels (not guaranteed unique).
Example: Accession Number: 1978.1234

name (string)
Names of associated individuals with contextual labels.
Example: Maker: Paul Revere; Sitter: George Washington

notes (string)
Additional descriptive or catalog notes with labels.
Example: Exhibition: On view at the National Museum of American History

objectType (string)
Object category or classification with labels.
Example: Object Type: Broadside

physicalDescription (string)
Medium/materials/dimensions with labels.
Example: Medium: Oil on canvas; Dimensions: 30 ½ × 25 ¼ in.

place (string)
Place(s) associated with the object, with labels.
Example: Place made: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

publisher (string)
Publisher information for printed works.
Example: Publisher: John Dunlap, Philadelphia

topic (string)
Subject terms or topical keywords.
Example: Topic: American Revolution

Indexed Fields (normalized values)

Normalized versions of descriptive fields (e.g., indexed_names, indexed_places). These lack contextual labels and provide standardized values.

indexed_dates (list[string])
Standardized dates extracted from free-text fields.
Example: [1776, 1790s]

indexed_names (list[string])
Controlled-format names.
Example: [Revere, Paul; Washington, George]

indexed_object_types (list[string])
Normalized object classifications.
Example: [broadside, medal]

indexed_places (list[string])
Standardized place names.
Example: [Philadelphia (Pa.), London (England)]

indexed_topics (list[string])
Normalized subject keywords.
Example: [American Revolution, Independence, Portraits]

Media Fields

mediaCount (integer)
Number of media items linked to the record.
Example: 2

mediaURLs (list[string])
URLs for digital surrogates.
Example:
["https://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?id=NMAH-78-12345", "https://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?id=NMAH-78-12346"]

thumbnail (string)
URL for a preview thumbnail image.
Example:
https://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?id=NMAH-78-12345&max=200

Source Data

Original Data Producers

Records were created and are maintained by staff at: - National Museum of American History (NMAH) - National Postal Museum (NPM) - Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) - National Portrait Gallery (NPG)

Data Access

• Records were accessed via Smithsonian Open Access after the object lists were confirmed with museum staff
• Open Access provided a standardized way to pull complete records across multiple units

Characteristics of Source Records

• Metadata reflects cataloging practices over many decades and may have changed over time
• Some fields are structured (e.g., accession numbers), while others are free-text with contextual labels (e.g., “date made: circa 1775”)
• Cataloging depth varies by museum and by object: some records are richly detailed, others more minimal

Personal and Sensitive Information

There is no known personal or sensitive information included in this dataset.

Considerations for Using the Data

Risks and Limitations

This dataset represents a curated subset of Smithsonian collections rather than a complete record of American Revolutionary-era holdings. - Some Revolutionary-era objects may not be included if their catalog records lacked sufficient detail or were not discoverable through metadata searches - Some objects outside the 1770–1810 period may be present if their records used broad or ambiguous date ranges (e.g., “1800–1900”) - Metadata fields are descriptive but not always comprehensive. Some records may be incomplete if they have not yet been fully researched or updated

The original records in Smithsonian Open Access were created over many decades by different units and staff, leading to variation in terminology, structure, and level of detail. Cataloging is an ongoing process, and records are continually updated as new research is conducted.

For additional reuse limitations, users should consult the Smithsonian Open Access FAQ and Smithsonian Terms of Use.

Recommendations

Users should be aware of the risks and limitations of the dataset. Additional guidance may be added as further recommendations are developed.

Additional Information

Citation Information

BibTeX @dataset{RevolutionCrossroads_Smithsonian_2025, author = {Revolution Crossroads Project Team}, title = {Smithsonian American Revolutionary Era Collections}, year = {2025}, publisher = {Hugging Face}, url = {https://huggingface.co/datasets/RevolutionCrossroads/si_us_revolutionary_era_collections}, doi = {10.57967/hf/6527} }

APA Revolution Crossroads Project Team. (2025). Smithsonian American Revolutionary Era Collections [Data set]. Hugging Face. https://doi.org/10.57967/hf/6527

Glossary

• EDAN (Enterprise Digital Asset Network): Smithsonian’s internal collections database system. Each object or item has an EDAN identifier
• Indexed fields: Normalized versions of descriptive fields (e.g., indexed_names, indexed_places). These lack contextual labels (like “Maker” or “Sitter”) and provide just the standardized value, making them easier for search and filtering
• Open Access: Smithsonian’s public data service that provides standardized access to digitized collections records and media
• Thumbnail: A small preview image linked to an object, often used to quickly display collections online
• Parquet: A columnar data file format optimized for efficient analysis and storage. Used here to make large metadata files easier to work with

Dataset Card Contact

revolutioncrossroads@si.edu