Find Related Smithsonian Objects
smithsonian_find_relatedRead-onlyIdempotent
Discover objects across Smithsonian collections related to a given anchor object, matched on shared metadata signals — culture, period, object type, named parties, and topic terms. Each related object is tagged with the signals that connected it to the anchor; a named-party signal carries the catalog's own role for that party (maker, Collector, Donor, issuing authority, …), not a fixed "maker" label. Matches surface across museums — an NASM aerospace anchor can pull related objects from NMNHPALEO, SAAM, and NMAH.
Tool call template
Replace each placeholder with a value matching the input schema. Only required parameters are included; add optional parameters as needed.
{
"id": 1,
"jsonrpc": "2.0",
"method": "tools/call",
"params": {
"arguments": {
"id": "<id>"
},
"name": "smithsonian_find_related"
}
}Input Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| id | Yes | record_id of the anchor object (e.g. "nasm_A19670093000") from smithsonian_search_objects or smithsonian_get_object. | |
| limit | No | Maximum number of related objects to return (default 10). A value above 1000 is served at 1000 with a notice. | |
| start | No | Pagination offset — 0-indexed. Page contiguously by advancing start by the number of objects returned (a truncated page names the next start in its notice); each signal is reachable to a depth of 5000 objects, beyond which truncated stays true but deeper pages aren't retrievable. |
Output Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| cap | No | The page size served: limit as requested, or its cap when limit exceeded it. | |
| error | No | Present when the call failed. Absent on success. | |
| shown | No | Number of related objects returned. | |
| anchor | No | Summary of the anchor object used to drive the fan-out searches. | |
| notice | No | Composed page-size, partial-failure, empty-result, and paging guidance. Opens with the page size served when limit exceeded its cap. Failed signals carry safe categories; start pages the related set and signals[].search_continuation reaches a broader signal. | |
| related | No | Related objects interleaved across the fan-out signals so each signal contributes. Empty when no related objects were found across all fan-out searches. | |
| signals | No | Per-signal breakdown of every fan-out that returned. Use search_continuation with smithsonian_search_objects to retrieve a signal's matches past this tool's 5000-per-signal reach. A signal whose upstream call failed is omitted. | |
| sources | No | Where this answer came from. A page served from oa_mirror lists its rows in mirror order, not the live API's, and its notice names the snapshot date. Present only on a server that keeps a mirror. | |
| truncated | No | True when the related list is incomplete — either capped by the limit or more results exist upstream past the current page (advance start to retrieve them). | |
| mirror_snapshot | No | Publication time (ISO 8601) of the Open Access snapshot the mirror held; what came from oa_mirror reflects the catalog as of then. Present when part of this answer came from oa_mirror. | |
| truncationCeiling | No | Upper bound on the related objects reachable by paging with start. Cross-signal overlaps are not subtracted, so it can overcount. Signals larger than this tool's per-signal reach are counted at that reach — see signals[].row_count for their true size. | |
| search_signals_used | No | Metadata fields that drove the fan-out searches. |