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Harvard Artifacts Etl Streamlit

  • 1k installs
  • 4 repo stars
  • Updated July 18, 2026
  • aradotso/data-skills

Harvard Artifacts ETL & Streamlit is an agent skill that engineers Harvard Art Museums API data into SQL and Streamlit dashboards.

About

Harvard Artifacts ETL & Streamlit is a data-skills agent package for builders who want a credible museum-analytics demo or internal research tool without designing the pipeline from scratch. It walks through Harvard Art Museums API access, pagination, and nested JSON flattening into normalized SQL tables for artifacts, media, and colors, then loads data suitable for TiDB or similar SQL engines. On top of storage, the skill emphasizes twenty-plus ready-made analytical queries and Streamlit screens wired to Plotly so stakeholders can filter and visualize collection attributes interactively. Triggers match questions like building an ETL for Harvard data or pairing the API with Streamlit. Complexity sits at intermediate: you need Python comfort, basic SQL modeling, and local env setup for Streamlit. It is phase-specific to building the data layer but naturally extends into Grow when you ship dashboards to users or Validate when you prototype a data product idea around cultural heritage APIs.

  • Harvard Art Museums API integration with pagination for large artifact pulls
  • ETL flow: nested JSON extract, relational transform, SQL load (TiDB-oriented patterns)
  • Normalized tables for artifacts, media, and color metadata
  • 20+ predefined SQL analytical queries for collection exploration
  • Streamlit + Plotly interactive dashboards on top of query results

Harvard Artifacts Etl Streamlit by the numbers

  • 1,034 all-time installs (skills.sh)
  • +2 installs in the week ending Jul 28, 2026 (Skillselion tracking)
  • Ranked #289 of 2,066 Data Science & ML skills by installs in the Skillselion catalog
  • Data as of Jul 28, 2026 (Skillselion catalog sync)
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Installs1k
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Last updatedJuly 18, 2026
Repositoryaradotso/data-skills

What it does

Pull Harvard Art Museums collection data through an ETL into SQL and explore it with Streamlit and Plotly dashboards.

Who is it for?

Best when you're prototyping collection analytics, portfolio apps, or SQL/Streamlit learning projects.

Skip if: Production deployments that need Harvard API key governance, SLAs, or zero-code BI without Python.

When should I use this skill?

Triggers include building Harvard Art Museums ETL, TiDB/SQL storage, or Streamlit visualization for collection data.

What you get

You end with a documented API→ETL→SQL→analytics→visualization stack you can extend or demo.

  • ETL scripts for extract, transform, and load
  • Relational schema for artifacts, media, and colors
  • Streamlit dashboard with Plotly visualizations

By the numbers

  • 20+ predefined SQL analytical queries
  • Architecture path: API → ETL → SQL → Analytics → Visualization

Files

SKILL.mdMarkdownGitHub ↗

Harvard Artifacts ETL & Analytics Skill

Skill by ara.so — Data Skills collection.

This skill enables AI agents to build and work with end-to-end data engineering pipelines using the Harvard Art Museums API. It demonstrates ETL workflows, SQL database design, analytics queries, and interactive Streamlit dashboards with Plotly visualizations.

What This Project Does

The Harvard Artifacts Collection Data Engineering & Analytics App provides:

  • API Integration: Fetch artifact data from Harvard Art Museums API with pagination and rate limiting
  • ETL Pipeline: Extract, transform, and load museum artifact data into relational SQL databases
  • SQL Database: Store artifacts metadata, media details, and color information with proper relationships
  • Analytics Queries: 20+ predefined SQL queries for insights on culture, century, media, colors, and departments
  • Interactive Dashboard: Streamlit-based UI with Plotly visualizations for real-time analytics

Installation

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/Manali0711/Harvard-Artifacts-Collection-Data-Engineering-Analytics-App.git
cd Harvard-Artifacts-Collection-Data-Engineering-Analytics-App

# Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

Required Dependencies

streamlit
pandas
requests
mysql-connector-python
plotly
python-dotenv

Configuration

Environment Variables

Create a .env file or set environment variables:

# Harvard Art Museums API
HARVARD_API_KEY=your_api_key_here

# MySQL/TiDB Configuration
DB_HOST=your_database_host
DB_PORT=3306
DB_USER=your_username
DB_PASSWORD=your_password
DB_NAME=harvard_artifacts

API Key Setup

Get your free API key from Harvard Art Museums API:

import os
from dotenv import load_dotenv

load_dotenv()
API_KEY = os.getenv('HARVARD_API_KEY')

Database Schema

Tables Structure

-- Artifact Metadata
CREATE TABLE artifactmetadata (
    artifact_id INT PRIMARY KEY,
    title VARCHAR(500),
    culture VARCHAR(255),
    century VARCHAR(100),
    classification VARCHAR(255),
    department VARCHAR(255),
    dated VARCHAR(255),
    description TEXT,
    accession_number VARCHAR(100),
    primary_image_url TEXT
);

-- Artifact Media
CREATE TABLE artifactmedia (
    media_id INT AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
    artifact_id INT,
    media_type VARCHAR(50),
    media_url TEXT,
    FOREIGN KEY (artifact_id) REFERENCES artifactmetadata(artifact_id)
);

-- Artifact Colors
CREATE TABLE artifactcolors (
    color_id INT AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
    artifact_id INT,
    color_hex VARCHAR(10),
    color_name VARCHAR(100),
    percentage FLOAT,
    FOREIGN KEY (artifact_id) REFERENCES artifactmetadata(artifact_id)
);

ETL Pipeline Implementation

1. Extract Data from API

import requests
import pandas as pd

def fetch_artifacts(api_key, page=1, size=100):
    """Fetch artifacts from Harvard Art Museums API"""
    base_url = "https://api.harvardartmuseums.org/object"
    
    params = {
        'apikey': api_key,
        'page': page,
        'size': size,
        'hasimage': 1  # Only artifacts with images
    }
    
    response = requests.get(base_url, params=params)
    response.raise_for_status()
    
    data = response.json()
    return data['records'], data['info']

# Paginated extraction
def extract_all_artifacts(api_key, max_pages=10):
    """Extract artifacts with pagination"""
    all_artifacts = []
    
    for page in range(1, max_pages + 1):
        records, info = fetch_artifacts(api_key, page=page)
        all_artifacts.extend(records)
        
        if page >= info['pages']:
            break
    
    return all_artifacts

2. Transform Data

def transform_artifacts(raw_artifacts):
    """Transform nested JSON to relational format"""
    metadata_list = []
    media_list = []
    colors_list = []
    
    for artifact in raw_artifacts:
        # Metadata extraction
        metadata = {
            'artifact_id': artifact.get('id'),
            'title': artifact.get('title', 'Unknown'),
            'culture': artifact.get('culture'),
            'century': artifact.get('century'),
            'classification': artifact.get('classification'),
            'department': artifact.get('department'),
            'dated': artifact.get('dated'),
            'description': artifact.get('description'),
            'accession_number': artifact.get('accessionNumber'),
            'primary_image_url': artifact.get('primaryimageurl')
        }
        metadata_list.append(metadata)
        
        # Media extraction
        if 'images' in artifact and artifact['images']:
            for img in artifact['images']:
                media = {
                    'artifact_id': artifact.get('id'),
                    'media_type': 'image',
                    'media_url': img.get('baseimageurl')
                }
                media_list.append(media)
        
        # Colors extraction
        if 'colors' in artifact and artifact['colors']:
            for color in artifact['colors']:
                color_data = {
                    'artifact_id': artifact.get('id'),
                    'color_hex': color.get('hex'),
                    'color_name': color.get('color'),
                    'percentage': color.get('percent')
                }
                colors_list.append(color_data)
    
    return (
        pd.DataFrame(metadata_list),
        pd.DataFrame(media_list),
        pd.DataFrame(colors_list)
    )

3. Load to SQL Database

import mysql.connector
from mysql.connector import Error

def create_connection(host, port, user, password, database):
    """Create database connection"""
    try:
        connection = mysql.connector.connect(
            host=host,
            port=port,
            user=user,
            password=password,
            database=database
        )
        return connection
    except Error as e:
        print(f"Error: {e}")
        return None

def load_to_database(df_metadata, df_media, df_colors, connection):
    """Batch insert data into SQL database"""
    cursor = connection.cursor()
    
    # Load metadata
    for _, row in df_metadata.iterrows():
        query = """
        INSERT INTO artifactmetadata 
        (artifact_id, title, culture, century, classification, department, 
         dated, description, accession_number, primary_image_url)
        VALUES (%s, %s, %s, %s, %s, %s, %s, %s, %s, %s)
        ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE title=VALUES(title)
        """
        cursor.execute(query, tuple(row))
    
    # Load media
    for _, row in df_media.iterrows():
        query = """
        INSERT INTO artifactmedia (artifact_id, media_type, media_url)
        VALUES (%s, %s, %s)
        """
        cursor.execute(query, tuple(row))
    
    # Load colors
    for _, row in df_colors.iterrows():
        query = """
        INSERT INTO artifactcolors (artifact_id, color_hex, color_name, percentage)
        VALUES (%s, %s, %s, %s)
        """
        cursor.execute(query, tuple(row))
    
    connection.commit()
    cursor.close()

Analytics Queries

Sample SQL Analytics

ANALYTICS_QUERIES = {
    "Artifacts by Culture": """
        SELECT culture, COUNT(*) as count
        FROM artifactmetadata
        WHERE culture IS NOT NULL
        GROUP BY culture
        ORDER BY count DESC
        LIMIT 15
    """,
    
    "Artifacts by Century": """
        SELECT century, COUNT(*) as count
        FROM artifactmetadata
        WHERE century IS NOT NULL
        GROUP BY century
        ORDER BY count DESC
    """,
    
    "Top Colors in Collection": """
        SELECT color_name, COUNT(*) as frequency, AVG(percentage) as avg_percentage
        FROM artifactcolors
        GROUP BY color_name
        ORDER BY frequency DESC
        LIMIT 20
    """,
    
    "Department Distribution": """
        SELECT department, COUNT(*) as artifact_count
        FROM artifactmetadata
        GROUP BY department
        ORDER BY artifact_count DESC
    """,
    
    "Media Availability": """
        SELECT 
            COUNT(DISTINCT am.artifact_id) as total_artifacts,
            COUNT(DISTINCT m.artifact_id) as artifacts_with_media,
            ROUND(COUNT(DISTINCT m.artifact_id) * 100.0 / COUNT(DISTINCT am.artifact_id), 2) as coverage_percentage
        FROM artifactmetadata am
        LEFT JOIN artifactmedia m ON am.artifact_id = m.artifact_id
    """
}

def execute_query(connection, query):
    """Execute SQL query and return results as DataFrame"""
    cursor = connection.cursor(dictionary=True)
    cursor.execute(query)
    results = cursor.fetchall()
    cursor.close()
    return pd.DataFrame(results)

Streamlit Dashboard

Main Application Structure

import streamlit as st
import plotly.express as px
import os

st.set_page_config(page_title="Harvard Artifacts Analytics", layout="wide")

# Sidebar configuration
st.sidebar.title("🎨 Harvard Art Analytics")
st.sidebar.markdown("---")

# Database connection
@st.cache_resource
def get_db_connection():
    return create_connection(
        host=os.getenv('DB_HOST'),
        port=int(os.getenv('DB_PORT', 3306)),
        user=os.getenv('DB_USER'),
        password=os.getenv('DB_PASSWORD'),
        database=os.getenv('DB_NAME')
    )

# Main app
def main():
    st.title("📊 Harvard Artifacts Collection Analytics")
    
    conn = get_db_connection()
    
    # Query selector
    query_name = st.selectbox(
        "Select Analytics Query:",
        list(ANALYTICS_QUERIES.keys())
    )
    
    if st.button("Run Query"):
        with st.spinner("Executing query..."):
            df_results = execute_query(conn, ANALYTICS_QUERIES[query_name])
            
            # Display results
            st.subheader("Query Results")
            st.dataframe(df_results)
            
            # Visualization
            if len(df_results.columns) >= 2:
                st.subheader("Visualization")
                fig = px.bar(
                    df_results,
                    x=df_results.columns[0],
                    y=df_results.columns[1],
                    title=query_name
                )
                st.plotly_chart(fig, use_container_width=True)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

Running the Application

# Start Streamlit app
streamlit run app.py

# Access dashboard at http://localhost:8501

Common Patterns

Complete ETL Workflow

import os
from dotenv import load_dotenv

load_dotenv()

# Configuration
API_KEY = os.getenv('HARVARD_API_KEY')
DB_CONFIG = {
    'host': os.getenv('DB_HOST'),
    'port': int(os.getenv('DB_PORT', 3306)),
    'user': os.getenv('DB_USER'),
    'password': os.getenv('DB_PASSWORD'),
    'database': os.getenv('DB_NAME')
}

# Execute ETL
def run_etl_pipeline():
    # Extract
    print("Extracting data from API...")
    raw_artifacts = extract_all_artifacts(API_KEY, max_pages=5)
    
    # Transform
    print("Transforming data...")
    df_metadata, df_media, df_colors = transform_artifacts(raw_artifacts)
    
    # Load
    print("Loading to database...")
    conn = create_connection(**DB_CONFIG)
    load_to_database(df_metadata, df_media, df_colors, conn)
    conn.close()
    
    print(f"ETL Complete: {len(df_metadata)} artifacts processed")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    run_etl_pipeline()

Troubleshooting

API Rate Limiting

import time

def fetch_with_retry(api_key, page, max_retries=3):
    """Fetch with exponential backoff"""
    for attempt in range(max_retries):
        try:
            return fetch_artifacts(api_key, page)
        except requests.exceptions.HTTPError as e:
            if e.response.status_code == 429:  # Too many requests
                wait_time = 2 ** attempt
                print(f"Rate limited. Waiting {wait_time}s...")
                time.sleep(wait_time)
            else:
                raise
    raise Exception("Max retries exceeded")

Database Connection Issues

def verify_connection(connection):
    """Test database connection"""
    try:
        cursor = connection.cursor()
        cursor.execute("SELECT 1")
        cursor.fetchone()
        cursor.close()
        return True
    except Error as e:
        print(f"Connection failed: {e}")
        return False

Handling Missing Data

def safe_get(dictionary, key, default='Unknown'):
    """Safely extract values from nested JSON"""
    value = dictionary.get(key, default)
    return value if value else default

This skill provides complete ETL pipeline implementation for museum artifact data with SQL analytics and interactive visualization capabilities.

Related skills

How it compares

End-to-end reference pipeline skill—not a hosted Harvard dataset or generic Streamlit theme pack.

FAQ

Who is harvard-artifacts-etl-streamlit for?

Developers and data hobbyists building Python ETL and dashboard apps on top of the Harvard Art Museums open API.

When should I use harvard-artifacts-etl-streamlit?

In Validate when scoping a data-app prototype; in Build when implementing extract-transform-load and SQL models; in Grow when shipping an internal analytics dashboard for stakeholders.

Is harvard-artifacts-etl-streamlit safe to install?

It guides API and database access—review the Security Audits panel on this page, rotate Harvard API keys, and restrict network permissions to the museums API and your DB host only.

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