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 2 · DO #4199 · 182_Goodspeed_Bx2FF37_r

Collection
Thomas Harper Goodspeed (1887–1966) papers
Item/Folder
Rockefeller–Rudolph, 1938–1956
Digital Object
DO #4199, page 2
Collection-level dates
1923–1963
Open PDF at page 2 ↗

Page transcription

University of California
Berkeley, California
January 6, 1955

Mr. Nelson A. Rockefeller
Dept. of State
Washington D.C.

Dear Mr. Rockefeller:

You may remember that in 1942-43 I lectured and gave technical advice in South America under the auspices of your Committee for Inter-American Artistic and Intellectual Relations and that we met on several occasions in San Francisco during the first meeting of the United Nations. Since, I have been three times in South America at the invitation of the governments of Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Peru.

As shown in the enclosed statement my background of experience in those and other South American republics extends over twenty years. I believe that this background should make me useful in forwarding certain of the projects being advanced through international cooperation. In particular, it should pay some further dividends in terms of increasing understanding, respect and goodwill between the two Americas.

Especially in Chile, but also in Argentina, Colombia and Peru, I have a unique knowledge of the character of the floras and the environmental factors determining their distribution. My numerous scientific articles on those floras have increased knowledge of plant resources in general and of those having potential agricultural, industrial or ornamental importance in particular. As you know, agricultural self-sufficiency is a major South American problem and I could assist, as I have done in the past, in solving that and other related problems by demonstration of, for example, the importance of crop adaptation, use of native vs introduced species, conservation of water shed vegetation and scientific research in agriculture.

In the republics above named I have numerous friends of some prominence in government or business in addition to my botanical colleagues. I have served, with and without remuneration, Ministries of Agriculture and scientific institutions and my reception upon my periodic returns to South America indicate that I am personally acceptable and that my services have been appreciated. The Spanish translation (Buenos Aires 1941) of my "Plant Hunters in the Andes" (New York 1941, London 1950) was well received and widely read in Latin America.

On July 1 of last year I was retired from this University and accepted reemployment to June 30 1955. At present I am considering an invitation from the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas of the Spanish Government to spend some months in Spain to advise concerning the work of Agricultural Experiment Stations and to lecture on technical topics. The Consejo will provide maintenance and travel in Spain but not transportation to Spain and return. Last spring I had some correspondence with Mr. W. M. Rudolph and Mr. Gilbert Anderson of the Dept. of State and with