Open Archives

Measured conclusion: Deep-tested. L2 outcome: tools_ok.

MCP server for Open Archives: Dutch genealogical records and historical page transcriptions.

Add to your agent

Copy this into your MCP client config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "Open Archives": {
      "url": "https://mcp.openarchieven.nl/",
      "transport": "streamable-http"
    }
  }
}

Measured tools (22)

• search_records read-only

  Search genealogical records Searches the genealogical dataset and returns found persons and records. Supports filtering by archive, source type, event place, birth place, relation type and country. Results are pageable and sortable. Note: version 1.1 uses `archive_code` instead of `archive`.

  Parameters:

  • name (required) — string
  • lang — string
  • sort — number
  • start — integer
  • birthplace — string
  • eventplace — string
  • sourcetype — string
  • not_archive — number
  • number_show — integer
  • archive_code — string
  • country_code — string
  • relationtype — string

  Hints: read-only yes · destructive no · idempotent not declared · open-world yes

• show_record read-only

  Show a single genealogical record Returns one specific genealogical record in JSON format (UTF-8). The response conforms to the Archive 2 All (A2A) model. Also available as XML, GEDCOM, Turtle (TTL) and N-Triples (NT) by changing the file extension in the URL. Note: version 1.1 features improved JSON/XML output and adds N-Triples and Turtle formats.

  Parameters:

  • archive (required) — string
  • identifier (required) — string
  • lang — string

  Hints: read-only yes · destructive no · idempotent not declared · open-world yes

• match_record read-only

  Match a person to birth and death records Searches the genealogical dataset by exact name and birth year and returns the Open Archives URIs of birth records, death records and registrations in which the person is mentioned.

  Parameters:

  • name (required) — string
  • birthyear (required) — integer
  • lang — string

  Hints: read-only yes · destructive no · idempotent not declared · open-world yes

• get_births_years_ago read-only

  List births that occurred a specified number of years ago Returns a list of birth records for people born exactly the specified number of years ago from today. Note: version 1.1 uses `archive_code` instead of `archive` and includes the archive name and record URL.

  Parameters:

  • years (required) — integer
  • number_show — integer

  Hints: read-only yes · destructive no · idempotent not declared · open-world yes

• get_births read-only

  Finds birth records

  Parameters:

  • name (required) — string
  • start — integer
  • eventyear — integer
  • eventplace — string
  • number_show — integer
  • eventprovince — string

  Hints: read-only yes · destructive no · idempotent not declared · open-world yes

• get_deaths read-only

  Finds death records

  Parameters:

  • name (required) — string
  • start — integer
  • eventyear — integer
  • eventplace — string
  • number_show — integer

  Hints: read-only yes · destructive no · idempotent not declared · open-world yes

• get_marriages read-only

  Finds marriage records of couples (bride or groom)

  Parameters:

  • name1 (required) — string
  • name2 (required) — string
  • start — integer
  • eventyear — integer
  • eventplace — string
  • number_show — integer

  Hints: read-only yes · destructive no · idempotent not declared · open-world yes

• get_archives read-only

  List all archives with statistics Returns an array of all participating archives including their archive code (used in other API calls), name, homepage URL, Twitter handle, ISIL code and search URL on Open Archives. Note: version 1.1 adds ISIL codes and removes defunct ArchiefWiki links.

  Hints: read-only yes · destructive no · idempotent not declared · open-world yes

• get_record_stats read-only

  Record count statistics per archive Returns record count statistics. When no archive is specified, all archives are listed with their total number of records. When an archive code is specified, the source types available for that archive are returned with their individual record counts. Note: version 1.1 uses `archive_code` instead of `archive`.

  Parameters:

  • archive_code — string

  Hints: read-only yes · destructive no · idempotent not declared · open-world yes

• get_source_type_stats read-only

  Record count statistics per source type Returns statistics about source types. Without an archive_code all source types across the entire dataset are returned with total record counts. With an archive_code, only source types for that archive are returned. Note: version 1.1 uses `archive_code` instead of `archive`.

  Parameters:

  • archive_code — string

  Hints: read-only yes · destructive no · idempotent not declared · open-world yes

• get_event_type_stats read-only

  Record count statistics per event type Returns statistics about event types. Without an archive_code all event types across the entire dataset are returned with total counts. With an archive_code, only event types for that archive are returned. Note: version 1.1 uses `archive_code` instead of `archive`.

  Parameters:

  • archive_code — string

  Hints: read-only yes · destructive no · idempotent not declared · open-world yes

• get_comment_stats read-only

  Comment count statistics Returns the total number of validated comments made on records. When no archive_code is provided, the global total is returned. When an archive code is provided, the count for that archive is returned. Note: version 1.1 uses `archive_code` instead of `archive`.

  Parameters:

  • archive_code — string

  Hints: read-only yes · destructive no · idempotent not declared · open-world yes

• get_family_name_stats read-only

  Family name frequency statistics Returns the number of times family names appear in events for the selected source types, place and period. Results are ordered by frequency. Open Archives uses this endpoint to power its family name frequency visualisation.

  Parameters:

  • lang — string
  • eventtype — number
  • eventplace — string
  • number_show — integer
  • eventyearend — integer
  • eventyearstart — integer

  Hints: read-only yes · destructive no · idempotent not declared · open-world yes

• get_first_name_stats read-only

  First name frequency statistics for a given place and year Returns the top-X list of first names in the specified place and year. When a person has multiple forenames, only the first is counted. Currently only Amsterdam is available as a place.

  Parameters:

  • eventplace (required) — string
  • eventyear (required) — integer
  • number_show — integer

  Hints: read-only yes · destructive no · idempotent not declared · open-world yes

• get_profession_stats read-only

  Profession frequency statistics Returns the number of times professions appear in records for the selected period and place. Results are ordered by frequency. Open Archives uses this endpoint to power its profession frequency visualisation.

  Parameters:

  • lang — string
  • eventplace — string
  • number_show — integer
  • eventyearend — integer
  • eventyearstart — integer

  Hints: read-only yes · destructive no · idempotent not declared · open-world yes

• get_breakdown read-only

  Cross-tabulation aggregation grouped by one dimension Returns record counts filtered by any combination of archive, source type, event type, event place and year range, grouped by ONE chosen dimension (archive, sourcetype, eventtype, place or year). Use this endpoint to answer questions such as "how many Bidprentjes per archive?" or "how many marriages per year in Amsterdam?". The response includes the total filtered record count, the total number of distinct groups (capped at 750) and the top-N groups according to the chosen sort.

  Parameters:

  • group_by (required) — string
  • lang — string
  • sort — string
  • year_end — integer
  • eventtype — number
  • min_count — integer
  • eventplace — string
  • sourcetype — string
  • year_start — integer
  • number_show — integer
  • archive_code — string

  Hints: read-only yes · destructive no · idempotent not declared · open-world yes

• get_historical_weather read-only

  Historical weather measurements for a date and location Returns historical weather measurements from the nearest Dutch weather station for the specified date and coordinates. Data sources are the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI): measurements 1701–1905 and 1901–2014. Note: this endpoint exposes several types of historical datasets, so measurement types and units can vary between records.

  Parameters:

  • date (required) — string
  • longitude (required) — number
  • latitude (required) — number
  • lang — string

  Hints: read-only yes · destructive no · idempotent not declared · open-world yes

• get_census_data read-only

  Dutch census data for a place and year Retrieves census data for a Dutch place or municipality for the census year nearest to the specified year. Available census years: 1795, 1830, 1840, 1849, 1859, 1869, 1879, 1889, 1899. Data sources: Volkstellingen.nl (DANS) and Gemeentegeschiedenis.nl. Either `place` or `gg_uri` must be provided.

  Parameters:

  • year (required) — integer
  • place — string
  • gg_uri — string
  • province — string
  • richness — number

  Hints: read-only yes · destructive no · idempotent not declared · open-world yes

• search_transcriptions read-only

  Full-text search across page transcriptions Performs a full-text search across the page transcriptions of historical documents indexed by Open Archives. Mirrors the search UI at `/transcripties/zoek.php`. Results are ordered by Elasticsearch relevance (the order is fixed and cannot be overridden) and are returned paginated. Each match includes a source citation, page identifier and up to five highlighted text fragments. The set of facets returned depends on the supplied filters.

  Parameters:

  • q (required) — string
  • lang — string
  • start — integer
  • year_end — integer
  • year_start — integer
  • number_show — integer
  • archive_code — string
  • archive_number — string
  • inventory_number — string

  Hints: read-only yes · destructive no · idempotent not declared · open-world yes

• browse_transcriptions read-only

  Browse transcriptions hierarchically Returns a hierarchical browse of available page transcriptions. Mirrors `/transcripties/lijst/`. Three modes, depending on the supplied filters: * No filter — top-level list of source archives ordered by total transcription count (descending). * `archive_code` — list of all archive numbers (archieftoegangen) within that archive, ordered by archive number. * `archive_code` + `archive_number` — list of all inventories within that archive number, ordered by inventory number. The order of items is fixed and cannot be overridden. Results are always returned in full (no paging).

  Parameters:

  • lang — string
  • archive_code — string
  • archive_number — string

  Hints: read-only yes · destructive no · idempotent not declared · open-world yes

• show_transcription read-only

  Retrieve a single transcription Returns the full transcript of a single page along with its source citation. Mirrors `/transcripties/toon/<id>`. AI-generated summaries are deliberately not returned by this endpoint.

  Parameters:

  • id (required) — string
  • lang — string

  Hints: read-only yes · destructive no · idempotent not declared · open-world yes

• view_transcription read-only

  Open one or more transcribed document pages in an interactive deep-zoom viewer with the transcription text alongside. Pass page identifiers returned by search_transcriptions / browse_transcriptions (form <ISIL>_<archive>_<page>, e.g. NL-SdmGA_1504889_11). Optionally highlight a term in the transcript. Hosts without MCP Apps support receive a text summary plus inline preview images.

  Parameters:

  • ids (required) — array — Transcription page identifiers, e.g. ["NL-SdmGA_1504889_11"].
  • highlight_term — string — Optional term to highlight in the transcription text.

  Hints: read-only yes · destructive no · idempotent not declared · open-world yes

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