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 191 · DO #4537 · 116_Van%20Schaack_Bx7FF5_r

Collection
George B. Van Schaack (1903–1983) papers
Item/Folder
Correspondence N–Z (1 of 2), 1956–1974
Digital Object
DO #4537, page 191
Collection-level dates
1918–1981
Open PDF at page 191 ↗

Page transcription

COPY

February 11, 1967

Mr. Harry E. Wuertenbaecher, Jr.
President of the Board of Trustees
The Missouri Botanical Garden
13 Upper Laclede Road
St. Louis, Missouri 63124

Dear Mr. Wuertenbaecher:

It was my pleasure to work in the Library of the Missouri Botanical Garden for a few days last week. I came there in order to consult some sixteenth and seventeenth century books required in completing a History of Botany, which I am now writing. Some of these books are obtainable elsewhere only at the Arnold Arboretum (Harvard University), and the Library of Congress. I was not disappointed in my research and, in fact, I came across several books which I had not known previously.

My only regret is the absence of any signs of progress in developing an active research program since I last visited the Library in 1964. The Missouri Botanical Garden is known throughout Europe for its outstanding collection. Yet, locally it seems to be virtually unknown. On the two occasions when I have researched at the Library I was the only visiting scholar. It seems a pity that such a magnificent library should be allowed to pass into quiet oblivion when St. Louis spends millions of dollars annually on athletic stadiums and the like.

As one of a handful of professional historians of botany, the future of the Library is very much a matter of concern to me. Consequently, I trust that you will pardon the anxious tone in which this letter is written. If I can be of any assistance in promoting an active research program which would make use of materials now laying idle, please do not hesitate to call upon me.

Yours sincerely,

Jerry Stannard
Associate Professor History of Science
Secretary, Historical Section,
Botanical Society of America