Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation
A Research Division of Carnegie Mellon University

Hunt Institute Archives Text Discovery Platform

Search a large and growing portion of our online collections, including handwritten documents.
PROTOTYPE

This prototype uses state-of-the-art artificial intelligence, including a vision-language model (VLM) capable of reading handwritten documents as well as typed and printed text, to create searchable transcriptions of digitized materials in the Hunt Institute Archives. This makes it possible to search the textual contents of individual pages, including material that may not be described in the archival catalog.

Use Keyword search for specific words, names, dates, scientific names, or phrases. Try Semantic search (experimental) to describe a topic, question, or kind of material when you do not know the exact wording used in the documents.

About the AI-generated transcriptions

The transcriptions are generated automatically from page images and may contain errors, especially with difficult handwriting, unusual names, multiple languages, image-quality problems, or complex layouts. They are intended primarily as a discovery aid rather than authoritative transcriptions.

Each result provides the generated transcription and links to the original digitized material and associated archival description so that readings can be checked against the source. The transcription workflow uses AI models run locally by the Hunt Institute.

About Keyword and Semantic search

Keyword search is the default and matches the wording in the transcriptions. Results contain all your terms. Use quotes for an exact phrase. Substring matching is supported, so aceae can find plant-family names ending in -aceae.

Semantic search (experimental) is useful when you know what kind of material you are looking for but do not know the words used in the documents. It ranks transcribed passages by similarity of meaning, so relevant results may not contain the exact words in your query.

Semantic queries can be broad research topics, descriptions of activities or relationships, or natural-language questions. For example:

plant collecting and fieldwork in South America medicinal, culinary, or other traditional uses of plants chromosomes and plant classification early herbals and botanical illustrations botanical institutions exchanging plants, seeds, and specimens microscopy and photomicrography in botanical research How did botanists and gardeners introduce plants from one region to another? grafting, budding, and propagation of tropical fruit crops

Semantic search is not a chatbot: a question is used as a search query, and the system returns archival passages that appear conceptually related to it rather than generating an answer or summary. Short descriptions and ordinary research questions generally work better than lists of disconnected keywords. Quotation marks have no special meaning in Semantic mode. Cross-language matching may work in some cases, but it should not be treated as translation.

Keyword and Semantic search are complementary. Keyword search lets you require particular wording; Semantic search can surface differently worded passages about the same subject. Depending on the research question, trying both can reveal different useful material.

Open a result: use the prominent page-and-transcription link to see the metadata, PDF, and full transcription. Keyword-search terms are highlighted in the transcription.

Archives Collections Database (ArchivesSpace): the Collection, Item/Folder, and Digital Object links open the corresponding archival records. Collection-level dates describe the collection as a whole, not necessarily the specific item or page.

If a PDF does not load: on the detail page, use the Digital Object link, click “Go to file” in ArchivesSpace, and navigate to the page number shown here.

Current limitations
  • Automated transcriptions can contain missing or incorrect text or unintended repetition. Difficult handwriting, image quality, unusual layouts, and multiple languages can reduce accuracy. Always consult the original page image when an exact reading matters.
  • Semantic search remains experimental. Its rankings are an additional discovery aid, not a complete or definitive set of relevant results, and highly ranked pages can sometimes be only broadly related.
  • This is an active prototype. Search coverage, transcriptions, functionality, and the interface may continue to change as additional archival material is processed and the system is improved.

← Back to results

Page 111 · DO #4183 · 182_Goodspeed_Bx1FF21_r

Collection
Thomas Harper Goodspeed (1887–1966) papers
Item/Folder
Jessup–Junge, 1939–1959
Digital Object
DO #4183, page 111
Collection-level dates
1923–1963
Open PDF at page 111 ↗

Page transcription

Berkeley 4, California
June 26, 1951

M/ Paul Jourde
Chateau de Branfere
Le Guerno, Morbihan
France

Dear Friend:

Your kind letter written at sea on June 2 reached
me today. Your and your Senora's thoughtful expressions
of sympathy touched me. The knowledge that one has such
good and understanding friends who appreciate how great
my loss has been is very helpful. You were often in her
thoughts and we both always looked forward to the op-
portunity of seeing you once more either in our home or
abroad.

If I go to the west coast of South America this
fall I expect to come home by Christmas. As perhaps I
wrote you the Chilean government asked me to return via
a letter from their Ambassador in Washington. Unfortunately
he somewhere obtained the idea that this University would
pay all the costs of such a visit. Perhaps private Uni-
versities are willing to finance such projects but a state
University like this one cannot do so. Of course I expected
that the Chileans would offer to pay my expenses since I
would be serving them by initiating development of the National
Botanical Garden they wish to establish.

Actually it will be much better for me to go, as I always
have in the past, without cost to Chile. Under such circum-
stances I am under no obligation and can advise and function
without political pressure or being criticized by the opposition
party, etc., etc. Of more importance I would not have to give
all my time to working for the government but could also ad-
vance my long continued studies of the composition and dis-
tribution of the Chilean floras. These studies have more than
scientific importance because they will add to knowledge of
Chile's agricultural resources. To continue such studies I
must take with me from here an assistant botanist because it is
not wise to explore alone in relatively uninhabited areas,
especially in South America.

In the past my botanical expeditions to the South have
been financed in part with my own funds but largely with money
donated by friends who believed in the importance of my work.
I am now trying to obtain $4000 which, with what I have in
hand, will make it possible to carry out my proposals for this
fall. Is it possible that in France or perhaps elsewhere you
know persons or societies who might be interested in supporting