https://github.com/dgozal/histlabapi
A wrapper package to simplify extracting data from the History Lab's API
https://github.com/dgozal/histlabapi
api data-science python wrapper-api
Last synced: 6 months ago
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A wrapper package to simplify extracting data from the History Lab's API
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/dgozal/histlabapi
- Owner: dgozal
- License: mit
- Created: 2023-12-12T03:43:37.000Z (over 2 years ago)
- Default Branch: main
- Last Pushed: 2024-06-12T01:03:42.000Z (about 2 years ago)
- Last Synced: 2026-01-01T06:19:22.055Z (6 months ago)
- Topics: api, data-science, python, wrapper-api
- Language: Python
- Homepage: https://histlabapi.readthedocs.io/
- Size: 88.9 KB
- Stars: 1
- Watchers: 1
- Forks: 1
- Open Issues: 0
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- License: LICENSE
- Support: docs/support.md
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README
History as Data Science
-----------------
# History Lab API
The [History Lab](http://history-lab.org/) focuses on digitizing historical documents and turning them into a format more amenable to the tools of modern data analysis. As part of this, the History Lab has compiled a database of more than 3 million declassified historical documents.
Traversing any large database of this sort can be tedious though. `histlabapi` is a Python library that aims to solve this, making it easier for users to access data from the History Lab's database by wrapping around the History Lab's API.
## Installation and setup
Installation is quite straightforward with pip. This package is only compatible with Python 3.9+ due to its usage of the [`requests`](https://requests.readthedocs.io/en/latest/) dependency and its reliance on [`sphinx`](https://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/master/) to generate its documentation.
```bash
$ pip install histlabapi
```
Once installed, you can import the package with this:
```
from histlabapi import histlabapi
```
## Usage
Before extracting documents left and right, its important to get some bearing on how the History Lab stores and structures its various documents. As such, I've compiled a quick guide where one can look up the various collections and fields that you can access through this API [here](https://histlabapi.readthedocs.io/en/latest/database.html).
Once that's settled, you can use this package's various functions to extract information in all kinds of ways:
- An [overview](https://histlabapi.readthedocs.io/en/latest/usage.html#list-collections) of all the collections currently available in the API
- [Listing](https://histlabapi.readthedocs.io/en/latest/usage.html#entity-overview) all the entities of a certain type that appear across all collections
- Searching and extracting documents by [text](https://histlabapi.readthedocs.io/en/latest/usage.html#search-by-text), [entity](https://histlabapi.readthedocs.io/en/latest/usage.html#search-by-entity), [date](https://histlabapi.readthedocs.io/en/latest/usage.html#search-by-date) or [document ID](https://histlabapi.readthedocs.io/en/latest/usage.html#search-by-document-id)
## Documentation
Full documentation can be accessed at [Read the Docs](https://histlabapi.readthedocs.io)
## Support
Feel free to contact me at dg3279@columbia.edu if you have any questions and/or want to contribute!
## License
`histlabapi` was created by Derrick Gozal. It is licensed under the terms of the MIT license.
## Credits
`histlabapi` was created with [`cookiecutter`](https://cookiecutter.readthedocs.io/en/latest/) and the `py-pkgs-cookiecutter` [template](https://github.com/py-pkgs/py-pkgs-cookiecutter).
Also much thanks to Professor Raymond Hicks and the rest of the History Lab team for all the support in building up this package.