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CONTENTdm State Archives MCP server

by ianderso·io.github.ianderso/contentdm-mcp·v0.1.0
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Search US state archives' record images on CONTENTdm; read items, pages and transcripts.

A92/100grade A
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Safety scan
A92/100

full report

Adoption
Growing

0 stars70 downloads/wk

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If you have run it, two minutes of your experience saves the next person an afternoon.

CONTENTdm State Archives tools (8)

write = sends, deletes, buys or posts

Read from the package source without running it. The installed server may list more.

  • cache_status

    Report this session's requests, by site, and cache use. Makes no network call.

  • get_collection

    Read one collection's fields: what search's `field` can name, and which hold text.

  • get_image

    Download one page image through the site's IIIF service, so it can be read.

  • get_item

    Read one item: its metadata, any transcript or OCR text, and how to cite it.

  • get_pages

    List a compound object's pages in order, each with its own number and address.

  • list_collections

    List a site's collections and the alias each is searched by.

  • list_instances

    List the curated CONTENTdm sites, and any the operator added: who runs each, what it holds.

  • search

    Search one CONTENTdm site, or several side by side, for items or pages.

Public scan report

scanner v0.1.10 · 2026-10-14 · same rubric, same numbers if you re-run it

no findings
  • Code scan13 source files scanned25/25
  • –Live reliabilityno gateway calls yet and no remote to proben/a
  • –Tool poisoningtools not inspected (local package is not executed); not countedn/a
  • Auth qualitylocal package, no credentials required12/15
  • Maintenancelast push 7 days ago15/15
  • Maintainer identityregistry namespace matches repository owner; GitHub account older than a year8/10
Overall 92/100. Components that don't apply are left out of the denominator. Any critical finding is an F.RubricAppeal a findingJSON

How CONTENTdm State Archives compares

Against every graded Web search MCP server, from our own scans and uptime checks. Updated after each scan run.

Safety score
92/100
higher than 90% of 3,470 Web search servers
Tools
8
the typical Web search server has 5
Tools that change things
0%
typical: 0%. Fewer write tools means less an agent can break
Downloads a week
70
more than 48% of 827 Web search servers with a package

What its tools let an agent do: 8 read

Install CONTENTdm State Archives in Claude Code, Cursor or VS Code

claude mcp add contentdm-mcp -- uvx contentdm-mcp
Add to Cursor

What the publisher says

From the CONTENTdm State Archives repository's README, as published. We do not edit it. Read it on GitHub

contentdm-mcp

<!-- mcp-name: io.github.ianderso/contentdm-mcp -->

An MCP server for the record images that US state archives and state libraries publish on CONTENTdm: death certificates and their annual indexes, Confederate pension files, voter registers, prison registers, county court and estate papers, letters and diaries, with whatever transcript or OCR text the institution added.

CONTENTdm is OCLC's hosted digital-collections platform. The Alabama Department of Archives and History, the Georgia Archives' Virtual Vault, the Tennessee State Library and Archives, Ohio Memory, the Illinois Digital Archives, the Indiana State Library, Missouri Digital Heritage and many more run on it, and every one of them answers the same keyless JSON API and IIIF image service. The server ships a curated list of those sites, searches one or several of them at once, reads an item and its pages, and downloads a page image to read.

It works the way a careful genealogist does. The page image is the evidence. A transcript or OCR text is a lead that says which page to read, and an index card is a finding aid to the record behind it. Every result carries the holding institution's item address and a citation core (institution, collection, title, identifier, address), because the item page is what gets cited, not this server.

Nothing here writes anywhere, and nothing here keeps a family tree. It sits well beside dpla-catalog-mcp, which finds an item across hundreds of collections and hands you the institution's address (get_item takes that address directly), and nara-catalog-mcp for federal records.

This is an independent project. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or supported by OCLC or any of the institutions whose sites it reads.

Tools

The server publishes eight tools. All but getimage are read-only; getimage writes one new file and never overwrites one.

Finding

Reading

The curated sites

list_instances gives the whole list. On 2026-10-06, 18 sites answered, and 7 entries record institutions that have left CONTENTdm, so a search can say where they went:

Shortened. The full README is on GitHub.

Nothing above is checked by us. What we check is on the safety report.

CONTENTdm State Archives: common questions

Is CONTENTdm State Archives MCP server safe?
Yes, by our scan: it is graded A (92/100). Read the CONTENTdm State Archives safety report
How do I install CONTENTdm State Archives?
It runs on your machine. Copy the Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code or Claude Desktop config from the install section.
Does CONTENTdm State Archives need an API key?
No secret keys are declared. It reads 6 settings from the environment.
Is CONTENTdm State Archives maintained?
The last commit was 29 days ago (2026-10-06). The latest release is v0.1.0.
What can I use instead of CONTENTdm State Archives?
Servers from other publishers that do the same job: screenpipe MCP server, Brave Search MCP server and Exa Search MCP server.
How does CONTENTdm State Archives compare with other Web search MCP servers?
safety score 92/100 (higher than 90% of 3,470 Web search servers); tools 8 (the typical Web search server has 5); tools that change things 0% (typical: 0%. Fewer write tools means less an agent can break). Full comparison.

Alternatives to CONTENTdm State Archives

Same job from other publishers: the closest match first, then the best rated.

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  • Zoteus
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  • Search1API
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