MCP For Claude Marketplace
National Archives Catalog

National Archives Catalog MCP Connector for Claude

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Search and explore millions of historical documents, photos, and records from the US National Archives (NARA) directly from your AI agent.

40 tools Official Updated Jun 28, 2026 Official Vinkius Partner
More Details Connect to Claude

Connect to the National Archives Catalog (NARA) and explore the history of the United States through natural conversation. This MCP server allows your AI agent to act as a specialized research assistant, retrieving historical data, metadata, and digital objects from one of the world's largest archival collections.

What you can do

  • Deep Search — Query records by text, tags, comments, or transcriptions to find specific historical context and documents.
  • Record Hierarchy — Navigate complex archival structures by retrieving immediate children of specific parent records (NaId).
  • User Contributions — Manage and search through tags, comments, and transcriptions provided by the citizen archivist community.
  • Metadata Retrieval — Get detailed information, status metrics, and descriptions for specific National Archives Identifiers.
  • Tagging & Interaction — Create or delete tags and comments to organize research findings directly within the catalog ecosystem.

How it works

  1. Subscribe to this server
  2. Enter your NARA API Key
  3. Start researching history from Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-compatible client

Who is this for?

  • Historians & Researchers — instantly retrieve primary source documents and metadata without manual catalog navigation.
  • Educators — find relevant historical photos and records to build curriculum materials directly from a chat interface.
  • Genealogists — search through millions of records and transcriptions to find family history data and archival links.
historical-recordsnaraarchivesresearchus-history

40 tools expose this connector's capabilities to your AI agent.

create_comment

Add a new comment to a record

create_tag

Add a new tag to a record

create_transcription

Add a new transcription

delete_comment

Remove or deactivate a comment

delete_contributions

Deactivate or remove multiple contributions

delete_tag

Remove or deactivate a tag

fetch_coords

Utility to fetch JSON data from S3 based on a provided URL

get_announcements

Retrieve a list of all announcements

get_comment

Retrieve a single comment by ID

get_comments_by_naid

Retrieve comments for a specific record

get_comments_by_userid

Retrieve comments by a specific contributor

get_contributions_by_target_naid

Retrieve contributions for a specific record ID

get_contributions_by_userid

Retrieve contributions by user ID

get_justifications

Retrieve a list of justifications for administrative actions

get_latest_announcements

Retrieve active announcements

get_record_children

Retrieve immediate children of a specified parent ID

get_record_stats

Retrieve statistics on user contributions

get_tag

Retrieve a single tag by ID

get_tags_by_naid

Retrieve tags for a specific record

get_tags_by_userid

Retrieve tags by a specific contributor

get_transcription_history

Retrieve transcription history

get_transcription

Retrieve a single transcription by ID

get_transcriptions_by_naid

Retrieve transcriptions for a specific record

get_transcriptions_by_userid

Retrieve transcriptions by a specific contributor

get_user_notifications

Retrieve user notifications

get_user

Retrieve public data for a specific user

get_users

Retrieve public account data (filterable by email, username, role, etc.)

search_comments

Search for comment data

search_contributions

Search for contribution data

search_records_by_comment

Search records by comments

search_records_by_contribution

Search records related to user contributions

search_records_by_tag

Search records by tags

search_records_by_text

Search records by other extracted text

search_records_by_transcription

Search records by transcriptions

search_records

Search for records using URL parameters

search_tags

Search for tag data

search_transcriptions

Search for transcription data

update_comment

Update an existing comment

update_transcription

Add or update a transcription

update_user

Update user information

See how to talk to your AI agent using National Archives Catalog.

Search for records related to the 'Apollo 11 mission'.

I've found several records. The most prominent is the 'Apollo 11 Flight Plan' (NaId: 594912). Would you like to see its metadata or check for related children records?

Get the immediate children of parent record 573036.

Retrieving children for NaId 573036... I found several items including 'Logbook of the USS Constitution' and 'Correspondence files'. Which one should I inspect further?

Find all tags associated with record NaId 123456.

I've retrieved the tags for NaId 123456. Current tags include: 'World War II', 'Naval Intelligence', and 'Pacific Theater'. Would you like to add a new tag to this record?

Yes. Use the `search_records_by_transcription` tool. This is particularly useful for handwritten documents that have been digitized and transcribed by volunteers.

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