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 #4217 · 182_Goodspeed_Bx3FF57_r

Collection
Thomas Harper Goodspeed (1887–1966) papers
Item/Folder
South American Expedition, 1957–1958
Digital Object
DO #4217, page 2
Collection-level dates
1923–1963
Open PDF at page 2 ↗

Page transcription

Dr. T. H. Goodspeed will leave next week for South America to direct
the Sixth University of California Botanical Garden Expedition to the Andes.
He has recently completed 48 years of service to the University as
Professor of Botany and Director of the Botanical Garden.

Thirty years ago the Botanical Garden was moved from the center of the
Berkeley campus to a site at the head of Strawberry Canyon. Developed under
Dr. Goodspeed's direction on originally barren slopes of the Berkeley Hills,
it has become one of the most attractive areas in the Bay region and attracts
thousands of local and out-of-state visitors annually. Over 90,000 plants,
including many mature trees and shrubs, have been landscaped to conform to the
natural contours of the terrain. The large collection of Rhododendron species
and hybrids contains many unique specimens collected by the Botanical Garden's
expedition to West China and Tibet in 1930. In addition to supplying living
plants for classroom use collections are grown for the research of the Botanical
Garden staff and other members of the Faculty. A number of these research
collections are among the most scientifically important in this country.

From the Botanical Garden the first plant hunting expedition was sent to
South America in 1935 under Dr. Goodspeed's direction to obtain new or little
known plants of potential scientific, industrial and agricultural value to be
grown and tested in Berkeley. During the four following South American
expeditions which he has directed studies were made of the character and
distribution of the floras of the Andes and nearby regions from the equator
to Magellan Strait.

Seed and living plants of hundreds of species were brought back to the
Botanical Garden to form its South American unit. Many thousands of dried
plant specimens were obtained to enrich the noteworthy collection of South
American species in the University's Herbarium. Duplicate specimens have been
sent to other leading herbaria in this country and abroad.