Topics
Category
Era
MNopedia API
01. Requests
As of version 1, the MNopedia API allows only GET requests.
Accepted requests:GET
02. Authentication
Token authentication is required to access the MNopedia API. To acquire authorization to use the MNopedia API you must create an account at http://www.mnopedia.org/user and then submit a request to mnopedia@mnhs.org.
API Tokens
All requests will require an API token specified as an argument in the request URL.
Argument Definition:
Required Arguments:
- string services_token
Unique token provided by a site administrator.
03. Responses
All responses will be structured similarly for each operation. Response objects will have two main arrays: "metadata" and "results."
Metadata
The metadata portion of the response will give you important information about the results.
Response Definition
sort
If sorting is specified the API returns a “sort” array in the metadata.
- string sort_by
Tells you what the “results” are sorted by.
- string sort_order
Tells you the order the “results” are sorted by.
Results
resultset
Every response body will return a metadata about the "resultset."
- int count
Tells you how many rows were returned.
- int pages
Tells you how many pages the result is split into.
- string items per page
Tells you the maximum number of items there are per page.
- int page
Tells you what page you are currently viewing.
04. Operations
Three operations are provided by the MNopedia API: search, article, and comments.
Search
Returns search results from the mnopedia.org Apache Solr search index.
Argument Definition:
Required Arguments:
These arguments are required to receive a result.
- string keyword
A text string to search the index for.
- string services_token
Unique token provided by a site administrator.
Filtering Arguments:
All filtering arguments are optional and are equivalent to clicking a facet on the search or index page on mnopedia.org.
- string category
Filter by category name.
- int topic
Filter by topic id.
- int era
Filter by era id.
Sorting Arguments:
Sorting arguments are optional.
- string sort_by
Sets the sort by selector. Options: label, ds_created. Defaults to relevancy.
- string sort_order
Sets the order the result set should be sorted by. Options: ASC, DESC.
Paging Arguments:
Paging arguments are all optional.
- int items_per_page
Sets the number of items allowed on per page. Options: 5, 10, 20, 40, 60. Defaults to 10.
- int page
Sets the page you are currently on starting with "0".
Response Definition
The response will be found in the "results" array.
- int id
The unique id for the article.
- string first_published
The date the article was first published.
- string label
The search label is also the “title” of the article.
- string summary
The summary of the article.
- string image
A URL to the main image for the article.
- string category
The category the article belongs to.
- array eras
- string id
The unique id for the era. Can be used to filter the results.
- string name
The name of the era.
- array topics
- string id
The unique id for the topic. Can be used to filter the results.
- string name
The name of the topic.
- string url
The URL to the original article on mnopedia.org.
Request Examples
The URLs below assume the base URL is:http://www.mnopedia.org/api/v1/
Abstract/search.json?keyword={keyword}&services_token={token}&era={id}&topic={id}&category={category_name}&sort_by={ds_created || label}sort_order={ASC || DESC}
Example URL/api/v1/search.json?keyword=farm&era=87&services_token=b4bd28cdbcb59f298a6efa4699b166a36aeb981e&sort_by=ds_created&sort_order=ASC
Response Example
{
"metadata": {
"sort": {
"sort_by": "ds_created",
"sort_order": "ASC"
},
"resultset": {
"count": 2,
"pages": 1,
"items per page": 10,
"page": 0
}
},
"results": [
{
"id": 647,
"first_published": "2011-06-30",
"label": "Barberg-Selvälä-Salmonson Sauna, Cokato",
"summary": "Often, the first structure built by Finnish immigrants to Minnesota was a sauna. That was the case with the Barberg-Selvälä-Salmonson sauna in Cokato—the oldest savusauna, or smoke sauna, still existing in Minnesota and likely in the United States.",
"image": "http://dev.mnopedia-org.gotpantheon.com/sites/default/files/styles/article_column_two/public/pf129542.jpg?itok=rQiUaDNA",
"category": "Structure",
"eras": [
{
"id": "86",
"name": "Civil War and Reconstruction: 1850-1877"
},
{
"id": "87",
"name": "Development of an Industrial United States: 1870-1920"
}
],
"topics": [
{
"id": "20",
"name": "Immigration"
},
{
"id": "24",
"name": "Sports and Recreation"
}
],
"url": "http://dev.mnopedia-org.gotpantheon.com/structure/barberg-selvala-salmonson-sauna-cokato"
},
{
"id": 1433,
"first_published": "2012-05-23",
"label": "Ronning Ensilage Harvester",
"contributor": "Minnesota Historical Society Press",
"summary": "Patented in 1915, the ensilage harvester improved on standard practices for harvesting and storing crops, and streamlined farm work. Its basic design, largely unmodified, is still used by agricultural implement companies worldwide.",
"image": "http://dev.mnopedia-org.gotpantheon.com/sites/default/files/styles/article_column_two/public/RonningEnsilageHarvester10131470.jpg?itok=RipYHfcC",
"category": "Thing",
"eras": [
{
"id": "87",
"name": "Development of an Industrial United States: 1870-1920"
},
{
"id": "88",
"name": "Great Depression and World War II: 1920-1945"
}
],
"topics": [
{
"id": "10",
"name": "Agriculture"
},
{
"id": "25",
"name": "Technology"
}
],
"url": "http://dev.mnopedia-org.gotpantheon.com/thing/ronning-ensilage-harvester"
}
]
}
Article
Returns a single article object. Because the article endpoint only returns one object there are no sorting, filtering, or paging arguments.
Argument Definition
Required Arguments
- int id
The article id.
- string services_token
An access token provided by a MNopedia administrator.
Filter Arguments
- none
Sorting Arguments
- none
Paging Arguments
- none
Response Definition
- string title
The title of the article.
- array body
- string value
The full body text of the article.
- string summary
The summary text of the article.
- array creator
- string name
The name of the creator
- array multimedia
- string type
The type of media the item is (image, movingImage, audio).
- string title
The title text of the multimedia item.
- string uri
The absolute path to the media file.
- string thumb
If the “type” is “image”, the thumb will be an absolute URL to a thumbnail.
- string category
The category the article belongs to.
- array eras
- string name
The name of the era.
- array topics
- string name
The name of the topic.
- array turning_point_overview
- string value
The text value of turning point.
- array chronology
- string title
The title text of the chronology item.
- string date
The date of the chronology item.
- array bibliography
- array static
- string value
The static bibliography value.
- array reference
- string value
The referenced bibliography values.
- array resources
- array static
- string value
The static resources value.
- array reference
- string value
The referenced resource values.
Request Examples
The URLs below assume the base url is:http://mnopedia.org/api/v1/
Abstract/article.json?id={id}&services_token={token}
Example URL/api/v1/article.json?id=1071&services_token=b4bd28cdbcb59f298a6efa4699b166a36aeb981e
Response Example
{
"metadata": {
"resultset": {
"count": "1",
"pages": 1,
"items per page": 1,
"page": 0
}
},
"results": [
{
"title": "Mesabi Range Strike, 1907",
"body": {
"value": "Tired of ethnic discrimination as well as dangerous working conditions, low wages, and long work days, immigrant iron miners on the Mesabi Range in northeastern Minnesota went on strike on July 20, 1907. Their strike lasted only two months before it was suppressed with strikebreakers, but it was notable for being the first organized strike on the state's Iron Range.\r\n\r\nIron had been mined since 1892 on the Mesabi Range, one of three ranges that make up Minnesota's Iron Range. On the Mesabi, iron ore was originally mined both underground and in open pits above ground. Few skills were required. Many Mesabi Range miners were European immigrants, recruited by mining companies including the Oliver Iron Mining Company, a subsidiary of the United States Steel Corporation. \r\n\r\nLiving and working conditions on the Iron Range were poor, and mining companies openly discriminated against immigrant miners by giving them the most dangerous and lowest paying jobs. New immigrants were easily exploited because they did not speak English, had little money, and were far away from their families and social support networks.\r\n\r\nBefore 1907, Iron Range miners had struck often, but their strikes were small and spontaneous. Many Mesabi Range miners came from Finland, where socialist and labor movements were well established. Because of this, the Mesabi Range had more labor strife than any other area on the Iron Range.\r\n\r\nIn 1905, Finnish socialists on the Mesabi Range invited the Western Federation of Miners (WFM) to organize in Minnesota. The WFM had formed in 1893, in reaction to a violent strike in Idaho. More prominent unions such as the American Federation of Labor were not interested in organizing unskilled laborers like miners and lumberjacks. \r\n\r\nThe WFM did not have organizing success on Minnesota's Iron Range until 1906, when it realized that its meetings were turning away immigrant workers who did not speak English. It then chose an Italian immigrant named Teofilo Petriella to head its recruitment efforts in the state. Petriella put immigrant miners in leadership positions and divided the Range into three immigrant sections: Italian, Slavic, and Finnish. By June 1907, the WFM's labor movement was growing in Minnesota, and it was clear that a confrontation was on the way.\r\n\r\nThe 1907 Mesabi Range strike happened sooner than WFM union leaders had hoped. On July 16, dock workers in Duluth and Superior went on strike. The dock strike tied up iron ore shipping, and miners on the Mesabi Range had to act quickly or risk that their strike would be overshadowed by events to the south. Three days later, on July 19, the miners gave their demands to the Oliver Iron Mining Company. Their demands included safer working conditions, a minimum wage, and an eight-hour workday. Two hundred workers were fired immediately, and union workers were targeted. The next day, July 20, the miners struck.\r\n\r\nBetween 10,000 and 16,000 miners went on strike in 1907, and a majority of them were Finnish. The 1907 strike was the first experience that most of the miners had with an organized strike. It was considered relatively peaceful, despite occasional violence. This was partly because Minnesota Governor <a href=\"person/johnson-john-albert-1861-1909\">John A. Johnson</a> stayed impartial and did not use the state militia to suppress the strike. \r\n\r\nStill, the strike was threatened by local authorities. On August 10, nineteen miners were accused of rioting and imprisoned for a month. No one was badly hurt in the incident, and the miners were tried and found innocent. Even local newspapers, which were strongly opposed to the strike and immigrants, said that the miners should not have been jailed.\r\n\r\nLocal businesses also hurt the strikers by denying them credit. Strikers responded by organizing consumer cooperatives in several towns. However, the cooperatives were shut down when wholesalers stopped supplying them because of pressure from mining companies.\r\n\r\nStrikebreakers hired by the Oliver Iron Mining Company were the biggest reason that the 1907 strike failed. By the end of the strike, the company had spent $255,000 on special deputies and strikebreakers. At first, Mesabi Range strikers asked strikebreakers to join their cause, and a few hundred did, but it was not enough. Finnish strikers held out the longest, but they, too, went back to work by September. \r\n\r\nAfter the strike, Finnish workers were blacklisted and blamed for the strike, even if they had not participated in it. Finns made up 18 percent of the mining workforce before the strike but only 8 percent after it. \r\n\r\nThe 1907 Mesabi Range strike was unsuccessful, since the miners' demands were not met, but it left a legacy of militant yet peaceful labor activism on the Range.",
"summary": "Tired of ethnic discrimination as well as dangerous working conditions, low wages, and long work days, immigrant iron miners on the Mesabi Range in northeastern Minnesota went on strike on July 20, 1907. It was the first organized strike on the state's Iron Range."
},
"creator": [
{
"name": "R.L. Cartwright"
}
],
"multimedia": [
{
"type": "Image",
"title": "Underground miner, Mesabi Range",
"uri": "http://dev.mnopedia-org.gotpantheon.com/sites/default/files/styles/multimedia/public/MesabiUndergroundMiner190647537.jpg?itok=fAjNohzZ",
"thumb": "http://dev.mnopedia-org.gotpantheon.com/sites/default/files/styles/styles/article_column_two/public/MesabiUndergroundMiner190647537.jpg?itok=Wf_1P_uO"
},
{
"type": "Image",
"title": "Blast hole drilling crew at the Mahoning Mine, Hibbing",
"uri": "http://dev.mnopedia-org.gotpantheon.com/sites/default/files/styles/multimedia/public/CrewMahoningMine60334.jpg?itok=sOCxARFy",
"thumb": "http://dev.mnopedia-org.gotpantheon.com/sites/default/files/styles/styles/article_column_two/public/CrewMahoningMine60334.jpg?itok=V5GK3WNk"
},
{
"type": "Image",
"title": "Underground mining on the Mesabi Range",
"uri": "http://dev.mnopedia-org.gotpantheon.com/sites/default/files/styles/multimedia/public/MesabiUndergroundMining190648986.jpg?itok=lekZEptQ",
"thumb": "http://dev.mnopedia-org.gotpantheon.com/sites/default/files/styles/styles/article_column_two/public/MesabiUndergroundMining190648986.jpg?itok=-LzndxdE"
},
{
"type": "Image",
"title": "Miners at Troy Mine outside the town of Eveleth",
"uri": "http://dev.mnopedia-org.gotpantheon.com/sites/default/files/styles/multimedia/public/MinersTroyMineEveleth60337.jpg?itok=A8pIvHzI",
"thumb": "http://dev.mnopedia-org.gotpantheon.com/sites/default/files/styles/styles/article_column_two/public/MinersTroyMineEveleth60337.jpg?itok=Ay5trTi8"
}
],
"category": [
{
"name": "Event"
}
],
"topics": [
{
"name": "Business and Industry"
},
{
"name": "Immigration"
},
{
"name": "Labor"
}
],
"eras": [
{
"name": "Development of an Industrial United States: 1870-1920"
}
],
"turning_point_overview": [
{
"value": "On July 20, 1907, the Western Federation of Miners calls a strike on the Mesabi Range to demand safer working conditions, a minimum wage, and an eight-hour workday."
}
],
"chronology": [
{
"title": "Mining begins on the Mesabi Iron Range in northeastern Minnesota.",
"date": "1892"
},
{
"title": "In Idaho, a union called the Western Federation of Miners forms in response to a violent strike.",
"date": "1893"
},
{
"title": "Scattered strikes break out on the Mesabi Iron Range.",
"date": "1904"
},
{
"title": "Finnish socialists invite the Western Federation of Miners to organize workers in Minnesota.",
"date": "1905"
},
{
"title": "The Western Federation of Miners asks immigrants to lead the organizing effort in Minnesota.",
"date": "1906"
},
{
"title": "On July 20, more than 10,000 men go on strike, but the action is suppressed with strikebreakers by the end of August.",
"date": "1907"
}
],
"bibliography": {
"static": {
"value": "Alanen, Arnold R. \"Early Labor Strife on Minnesota's Mining Frontier, 1882-1906.\" <em>Minnesota History</em> 52 no. 7 (Fall 1991): 246-263.\r\nhttp://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/52/v52i07p246-263.pdf\r\n\r\nBetten, Neil. \"Strike on the Mesabi—1907.\" <em>Minnesota History<em> 40 no. 7 (Fall 1967): 340-347.\r\nhttp://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/40/v40i07p340-347.pdf \r\n\t\r\nKarni, Michael G. <em>The Founding of the Finnish Socialist Federation and the Minnesota Strike of 1907.</em> Superior, WI: Tyomies Society, [1977]."
}
},
"resources": {
"static": {
"value": "<h3>Primary</h3>\r\n\"The Big Strike,\" <em>Chisholm Herald,</em> July 26, 1907.\r\n \r\nCheney, Charles B., \"Menace Seen in Minnesota Mine Strike,\" <em>Minneapolis Journal,</em> July 28, 1907.\r\n\r\n\"Complete Tie-Up of Mining by Western Federation,\" <em>Eveleth News,</em> July 24, 1907.\r\n\r\n\"Labor is Promised Protection,\" <em>Virginia Enterprise,</em> July 26, 1907.\r\n\r\n\"Miner's Version of Great Strike on the Mesaba Range,\" <em>Duluth Labor World,</em> August 31, 1907.\r\n\r\n \"Mines on Both Ranges Closed Down and Iron Ore Business is Paralyzed,\" <em>Duluth Sunday News Tribune,</em> July 21, 1907.\r\n \r\nOliver Iron Mining Company Research Files, 1860-1972\r\nManuscript Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul\r\nhttp://www.mnhs.org/library/findaids/00181.xml\r\nDescription: Materials documenting the operations of the Oliver Iron Mining Company on the Mesabi and Vermilion ranges, compiled by James S. Steel, an Oliver Iron Mining Company employee.\r\n\r\n\"Rioters Arrested,\" <em>Mesaba Ore</em> (Hibbing, MN), August 10, 1907.\r\n\r\nStrike and Labor Problems Files, 1907-1924\r\nMinnesota Department of Labor and Industry\r\nState Archives, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul\r\nDescription: Reports, transcripts of hearings and testimony, and correspondence regarding several strikes, including strikes on the Iron Range and St. Louis County in 1907.\r\n\r\n\"The Strike Near an End,\" <em>Chisholm Herald,</em> August 2, 1907.\r\n \r\n\"Strike Organizing is Fading Away,\" <em>Eveleth News,</em> September 11, 1907.\r\n\r\n\"Trouble Brewing,\" <em>Mesaba Ore</em> (Hibbing, MN), July 6, 1907.\r\n \r\n\"Virginia Mines are Active Again,\" <em>Virginia Enterprise,</em> August 9, 1907.\r\n\r\n\"Visited Petriella,\" <em>Mesaba Ore</em> (Hibbing, MN), August 3, 1907.\r\n\r\n<h3>Secondary</h3>\r\nAlanen, Arnold R. <em>Finns in Minnesota</em>. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2012.\r\n\r\nBetten, Neil. \"Riot, Revolution, Repression in the Iron Range Strike of 1916.\" <em>Minnesota History</em> 41 no. 2 (Summer 1968): 82-94.\r\nhttp://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/41/v41i02p082-094.pdf\r\n\r\nBlackstone, Lisa. <em>Iron Range: Minnesota Building America.</em> St. Paul: Twin Cities Public Television and Minnesota Humanities Center, 2009.\r\n\r\nGilman, Rhoda R. <em>Stand Up: The Story of Minnesota's Protest Tradition.</em> St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2012.\r\n\r\nIrene Paull Papers, 1934-1981\r\nManuscript Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul\r\nhttp://www.mnhs.org/library/findaids/00701.xml\r\nDescription: Correspondence, published works, and unpublished typescripts by Minnesota-born writer and political activist Irene Paull, including collected materials on progressive politics and labor in Minnesota.\r\n\r\nSirjamaki, John. \"The People of the Mesabi Range.\" <em>Minnesota History</em> 27 no. 3 (September 1946): 203-215.\r\nhttp://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/27/v27i03p203-215.pdf\r\n\r\nSofchalk, Donald G. \"Organized Labor and the Iron Ore Miners of Northern Minnesota, 1907-1936.\" <em>Labor History</em> 12 no. 2 (Spring 1971): 214-242.\r\n\r\nM840 (Microfilm)\r\nBerman, Hyman. \"Education for Work and Labor Solidarity: The Immigrant Miners and Radicalism on the Mesabi Range.\" Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 1963.\r\n\r\nP753\r\nOliver Iron Mining Company Records, 1901-1930\r\nManuscript Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul\r\nDescription: Records of the Oliver Iron Mining Company\r\n\r\nP1676\r\nClayton A. Videen Research Notes, 1887-1920\r\nManuscript Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul\r\nDescription: Handwritten copies of newspaper and magazine articles selected and annotated by Videen detailing strike activities in the Mesabi and Cuyuna iron ranges (1907 and 1916), among others.\r\n\r\n<h3>Web</h3>\r\nThe Minnesota Historical Society website. History Topics, 1907 Mesabi Range Strike.\r\nhttp://www.mnhs.org/library/tips/history_topics/76mesabistrike.html"
}
}
}
]
}