diff --git a/apis/r/.Rbuildignore b/apis/r/.Rbuildignore
index 7ec1437e7f..ea196e0fcd 100644
--- a/apis/r/.Rbuildignore
+++ b/apis/r/.Rbuildignore
@@ -23,3 +23,4 @@ tiledbsoma/libtiledbsoma.tar.gz.current
 # vscode
 ^\.vscode$
 ^\.devcontainer$
+^data-raw$
diff --git a/apis/r/DESCRIPTION b/apis/r/DESCRIPTION
index 8bfd37e133..ec9d9bf3a5 100644
--- a/apis/r/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/apis/r/DESCRIPTION
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ Title: TileDB SOMA
 Description: Interface for working with 'TileDB'-based Stack of Matrices,
     Annotated ('SOMA'): an open data model for representing annotated matrices,
     like those commonly used for single cell data analysis.
-Version: 0.0.0.9021
+Version: 0.0.0.9022
 Authors@R: c(
     person(given = "Aaron",
            family = "Wolen",
diff --git a/apis/r/NAMESPACE b/apis/r/NAMESPACE
index b76f144800..36498e17fb 100644
--- a/apis/r/NAMESPACE
+++ b/apis/r/NAMESPACE
@@ -49,6 +49,9 @@ export(ScalarMap)
 export(TileDBArray)
 export(TileDBGroup)
 export(TileDBObject)
+export(extract_dataset)
+export(list_datasets)
+export(load_dataset)
 export(nnz)
 export(pad_matrix)
 export(shape)
@@ -87,6 +90,7 @@ importFrom(spdl,debug)
 importFrom(spdl,info)
 importFrom(spdl,setup)
 importFrom(stats,setNames)
+importFrom(tools,file_path_sans_ext)
 importFrom(urltools,url_compose)
 importFrom(urltools,url_parse)
 importFrom(utils,packageVersion)
diff --git a/apis/r/NEWS.md b/apis/r/NEWS.md
index 2daadee463..5c2616f103 100644
--- a/apis/r/NEWS.md
+++ b/apis/r/NEWS.md
@@ -16,3 +16,4 @@
 * Add Seurat outgestors for `SOMAExperimentAxisQuery` objects
 * Numeric coordinates passed to SOMADataFrame$read() are now automatically upcast to int64 when necessary
 * Add ingestors to read data from `Seurat` objects
+* Add methods for listing and accessing bundled datasets, which now includes a `SOMAExperiment` containing the pbmc_small dataset from the SeuratObject package
diff --git a/apis/r/R/datasets.R b/apis/r/R/datasets.R
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ec47823c3d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apis/r/R/datasets.R
@@ -0,0 +1,86 @@
+#' SOMA Example Datasets
+#'
+#' @description
+#' Access example SOMA objects bundled with the tiledbsoma package.
+#'
+#' Use `list_datasets()` to list the available datasets and `load_dataset()` to
+#' load a dataset into memory using the appropriate SOMA class. The
+#'  `extract_dataset()` method returns the path to the extracted dataset without
+#'  loading it into memory.
+#'
+#' @details
+#' The SOMA objects are stored as `tar.gz` files in the package's `extdata`
+#' directory. Calling `load_dataset()` extracts the `tar.gz` file to the
+#' specified `dir`, inspects its metadata to determine the appropriate SOMA
+#' class to instantiate, and returns the SOMA object.
+#'
+#' @examples
+#' soma_pbmc_small <- load_dataset("soma-exp-pbmc-small")
+#'
+#' @name example-datasets
+NULL
+
+#' @rdname example-datasets
+#' @return
+#'  - `list_datasets()` returns a character vector of the available datasets.
+#' @importFrom tools file_path_sans_ext
+#' @export
+list_datasets <- function() {
+  data_dir <- example_data_dir()
+  files <- dir(data_dir, pattern = "tar\\.gz$")
+  tools::file_path_sans_ext(basename(files), compression = TRUE)
+}
+
+#' @rdname example-datasets
+#' @param name The name of the dataset.
+#' @param dir The directory where the dataset will be extracted to (default:
+#' `tempdir()`).
+#' @return
+#'  - `extract_dataset()` returns the path to the extracted dataset.
+#' @export
+extract_dataset <- function(name, dir = tempdir()) {
+  data_dir <- example_data_dir()
+  tarfiles <- list_datasets()
+
+  stopifnot(
+    "The specified directory does not exist" = dir.exists(dir),
+    "Provide the name of a single dataset" = is_scalar_character(name),
+    assert_subset(name, tarfiles, type = "dataset")
+  )
+
+  # Extract tar.gz file to dir
+  tarfile <- dir(data_dir, pattern = name, full.names = TRUE)
+  stopifnot("The specified dataset does not exist" = file.exists(tarfile))
+
+  dataset_uri <- file.path(dir, name)
+  untar(tarfile, exdir = dataset_uri)
+  dataset_uri
+}
+
+#' @rdname example-datasets
+#' @return
+#'  - `load_dataset()` returns a SOMA object.
+#' @export
+load_dataset <- function(name, dir = tempdir()) {
+  dataset_uri <- extract_dataset(name, dir)
+
+  # Inspect the object's metadata
+  object <- switch(
+    tiledb::tiledb_object_type(dataset_uri),
+    "ARRAY" = TileDBArray$new(dataset_uri, internal_use_only = "allowed_use"),
+    "GROUP" = TileDBGroup$new(dataset_uri, internal_use_only = "allowed_use"),
+    stop("The dataset is not a TileDB Array or Group", call. = FALSE)
+  )
+
+  # Instantiate the proper SOMA object
+  switch(
+    object$get_metadata("soma_object_type"),
+    "SOMAExperiment" = SOMAExperimentOpen(dataset_uri),
+    "SOMADataFrame" = SOMADataFrameOpen(dataset_uri),
+    stop("The dataset is an unsupported SOMA object", call. = FALSE)
+  )
+}
+
+example_data_dir <- function() {
+  system.file("extdata", package = "tiledbsoma", mustWork = TRUE)
+}
diff --git a/apis/r/data-raw/create-soma-exp-pbmc-small.R b/apis/r/data-raw/create-soma-exp-pbmc-small.R
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3b6f53b689
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apis/r/data-raw/create-soma-exp-pbmc-small.R
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+# Create SOMAExperiment for the pbmc_small dataset
+# https://mojaveazure.github.io/seurat-object/reference/pbmc_small.html
+
+library(tiledbsoma)
+library(SeuratObject)
+
+# load the pbmc_small dataset
+data(pbmc_small, package = "SeuratObject")
+pbmc_small
+
+# variables
+data_dir <- normalizePath(file.path("inst", "extdata"))
+soma_exp_name <- "soma-exp-pbmc-small"
+soma_exp_uri <- file.path(tempdir(), soma_exp_name)
+tar_file <- file.path(data_dir, paste0(soma_exp_name, ".tar.gz"))
+
+# create the SOMAExperiment
+write_soma(pbmc_small, uri = soma_exp_uri)
+
+# create tar.gz file containing the SOMAExperiment
+od <- setwd(soma_exp_uri)
+tar(tar_file, compression = "gzip")
+setwd(od)
diff --git a/apis/r/inst/extdata/soma-dataframe-pbmc3k-processed-obs.tar.gz b/apis/r/inst/extdata/soma-dataframe-pbmc3k-processed-obs.tar.gz
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..eb39ac98dc
Binary files /dev/null and b/apis/r/inst/extdata/soma-dataframe-pbmc3k-processed-obs.tar.gz differ
diff --git a/apis/r/inst/extdata/soma-exp-pbmc-small.tar.gz b/apis/r/inst/extdata/soma-exp-pbmc-small.tar.gz
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2698e1c4f0
Binary files /dev/null and b/apis/r/inst/extdata/soma-exp-pbmc-small.tar.gz differ
diff --git a/apis/r/inst/raw-data/soco-pbmc3k_processed-obs.tar.gz b/apis/r/inst/raw-data/soco-pbmc3k_processed-obs.tar.gz
deleted file mode 100644
index 220fc8cf2b..0000000000
Binary files a/apis/r/inst/raw-data/soco-pbmc3k_processed-obs.tar.gz and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/apis/r/man/example-datasets.Rd b/apis/r/man/example-datasets.Rd
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b6e4cb12da
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apis/r/man/example-datasets.Rd
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+% Generated by roxygen2: do not edit by hand
+% Please edit documentation in R/datasets.R
+\name{example-datasets}
+\alias{example-datasets}
+\alias{list_datasets}
+\alias{extract_dataset}
+\alias{load_dataset}
+\title{SOMA Example Datasets}
+\usage{
+list_datasets()
+
+extract_dataset(name, dir = tempdir())
+
+load_dataset(name, dir = tempdir())
+}
+\arguments{
+\item{name}{The name of the dataset.}
+
+\item{dir}{The directory where the dataset will be extracted to (default:
+\code{tempdir()}).}
+}
+\value{
+\itemize{
+\item \code{list_datasets()} returns a character vector of the available datasets.
+}
+
+\itemize{
+\item \code{extract_dataset()} returns the path to the extracted dataset.
+}
+
+\itemize{
+\item \code{load_dataset()} returns an SOMA object.
+}
+}
+\description{
+Access example SOMA objects bundled with the tiledbsoma package.
+
+Use \code{list_datasets()} to list the available datasets and \code{load_dataset()} to
+load a dataset into memory using the appropriate SOMA class. The
+\code{extract_dataset()} method returns the path to the extracted dataset without
+loading it into memory.
+}
+\details{
+The SOMA objects are stored as \code{tar.gz} files in the package's \code{extdata}
+directory. Calling \code{load_dataset()} extracts the \code{tar.gz} file to the
+specified \code{dir}, inspects its metadata to determine the appropriate SOMA
+class to instantiate, and returns the SOMA object.
+}
+\examples{
+soma_pbmc_small <- load_dataset("soma-exp-pbmc-small")
+
+}
diff --git a/apis/r/tests/testthat/test-SOMAArrayReader-Arrow.R b/apis/r/tests/testthat/test-SOMAArrayReader-Arrow.R
index 020be25987..2a1d57e8c8 100644
--- a/apis/r/tests/testthat/test-SOMAArrayReader-Arrow.R
+++ b/apis/r/tests/testthat/test-SOMAArrayReader-Arrow.R
@@ -3,12 +3,8 @@ test_that("Arrow Interface from SOMAArrayReader", {
     library(tiledb)
 
     skip_if_not_installed("dplyr")      # a Suggests
+    uri <- extract_dataset("soma-dataframe-pbmc3k-processed-obs")
 
-    tdir <- tempfile()
-    tgzfile <- system.file("raw-data", "soco-pbmc3k_processed-obs.tar.gz", package="tiledbsoma")
-    untar(tarfile = tgzfile, exdir = tdir)
-
-    uri <- file.path(tdir, "obs")
     columns <- c("n_counts", "n_genes", "louvain")
 
     z <- soma_array_reader(uri, columns)
diff --git a/apis/r/tests/testthat/test-SOMAArrayReader-Basics.R b/apis/r/tests/testthat/test-SOMAArrayReader-Basics.R
index 85bb53c1c3..d7048bf57f 100644
--- a/apis/r/tests/testthat/test-SOMAArrayReader-Basics.R
+++ b/apis/r/tests/testthat/test-SOMAArrayReader-Basics.R
@@ -1,9 +1,5 @@
 test_that("Basic SOMAArrayReader", {
-    tdir <- tempfile()
-    tgzfile <- system.file("raw-data", "soco-pbmc3k_processed-obs.tar.gz", package="tiledbsoma")
-    untar(tarfile = tgzfile, exdir = tdir)
-
-    uri <- file.path(tdir, "obs")
+    uri <- extract_dataset("soma-dataframe-pbmc3k-processed-obs")
 
     df <- arrow_to_dt(soma_array_reader(uri))
     expect_equal(nrow(df), 2638L)
diff --git a/apis/r/tests/testthat/test-SOMAArrayReader-Iterated.R b/apis/r/tests/testthat/test-SOMAArrayReader-Iterated.R
index 062ff3ebd2..7557996a72 100644
--- a/apis/r/tests/testthat/test-SOMAArrayReader-Iterated.R
+++ b/apis/r/tests/testthat/test-SOMAArrayReader-Iterated.R
@@ -58,10 +58,7 @@ test_that("Iterated Interface from SOMAArrayReader", {
     expect_equal(ncol(rl), 3)
 
     ## test completeness predicate on shorter data
-    tdir <- tempfile()
-    tgzfile <- system.file("raw-data", "soco-pbmc3k_processed-obs.tar.gz", package="tiledbsoma")
-    untar(tarfile = tgzfile, exdir = tdir)
-    uri <- file.path(tdir, "obs")
+    uri <- extract_dataset("soma-dataframe-pbmc3k-processed-obs")
     sr <- sr_setup(uri, config=as.character(config(ctx)))
 
     expect_false(tiledbsoma:::sr_complete(sr))
diff --git a/apis/r/tests/testthat/test-SOMADataFrame.R b/apis/r/tests/testthat/test-SOMADataFrame.R
index 9cb998e502..983ae37755 100644
--- a/apis/r/tests/testthat/test-SOMADataFrame.R
+++ b/apis/r/tests/testthat/test-SOMADataFrame.R
@@ -158,11 +158,7 @@ test_that("int64 values are stored correctly", {
 })
 
 test_that("SOMADataFrame read", {
-    tdir <- tempfile()
-    tgzfile <- system.file("raw-data", "soco-pbmc3k_processed-obs.tar.gz", package="tiledbsoma")
-    untar(tarfile = tgzfile, exdir = tdir)
-
-    uri <- file.path(tdir, "obs")
+    uri <- extract_dataset("soma-dataframe-pbmc3k-processed-obs")
 
     sdf <- SOMADataFrame$new(uri, internal_use_only = "allowed_use")
     z <- sdf$read()
diff --git a/apis/r/tests/testthat/test-example-datasets.R b/apis/r/tests/testthat/test-example-datasets.R
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..8026c67a87
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apis/r/tests/testthat/test-example-datasets.R
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+test_that("example dataset access", {
+  expect_length(
+    list_datasets(),
+    length(dir(example_data_dir()))
+  )
+
+  # Test that the dataset can be extracted
+  dataset_uri <- extract_dataset("soma-exp-pbmc-small")
+  expect_true(dir.exists(dataset_uri))
+  expect_equal(tiledb::tiledb_object_type(dataset_uri), "GROUP")
+
+  # Test the datasets can be loaded
+  exp <- load_dataset("soma-exp-pbmc-small")
+  expect_s3_class(exp, "SOMAExperiment")
+
+  sdf <- load_dataset("soma-dataframe-pbmc3k-processed-obs")
+  expect_s3_class(sdf, "SOMADataFrame")
+})