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 18 · DO #4187 · 182_Goodspeed_Bx2FF25_r

Collection
Thomas Harper Goodspeed (1887–1966) papers
Item/Folder
Macbride–Marston, 1945–1957
Digital Object
DO #4187, page 18
Collection-level dates
1923–1963
Open PDF at page 18 ↗

Page transcription

Berkeley, California
December 2, 1955

Mrs. Philip Douglas Macbride
Hollywood Farm
Woodinville, Washington

Dear Mrs. Macbride:

Unfortunately your letter postmarked November 23 was misplaced and only appeared today.

My "Plant Hunters in the Andes" would have given you suggestions concerning ornamentals of Peru and Chile. The original (1941) edition has long been out of print and the English edition (1950) was unavailable in London this last summer.

In the Seattle Arboretum and your own garden I doubt whether native Brazilian, Ecuadorian or Venezuelan plants would survive out-of-doors. The best source of South American plants for your area would be southern Chile -- the Lake region. Some of the central Chilean species do well here although we have not had a killing frost since most of them were introduced by us. There are certain desirable Argentine ornamentals which might be hardy.

Both in Chile and Argentina the relative shortness of your visits would make collecting difficult because collecting areas are at a considerable distance from Santiago and Buenos Aires. However, in Buenos Aires you may be able to find natives in the gardens of members of the Buenos Aires Garden Club (an anglo-Argentine society) or of the Sociedad Horticultura, both in the telephone directory, I think.

Since, apparently, you are staying longer in Peru you may have an opportunity to go into the "back country" to collect. However, whether Peruvian species, even from high altitudes, will survive in your area is doubtful. We would be interested in securing a small share of the seed of any wild species of Fuchsia, Calceolaria, Cacti or any ornamental growing at over 10,000' that you may come across. It would be essential that you note the approximate place of collection and date. For advice on collecting areas you might get into touch with Dr. Ramon Ferreyra who is a botanist at La Molina Agricultural College in the suburbs of Lima. He has studied in the United States and speaks English.

With many thanks for your letter and in the hope that your South American journey will be enjoyable,

Cordially,

THG:T