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 96 · DO #1249 · 53_Arber_AN14r

Collection
Agnes Robertson Arber (1879–1960) papers
Item/Folder
Notebook An 14 -- "H 6", 1926–1958, n.d.
Digital Object
DO #1249, page 96
Collection-level dates
1886–1985
Open PDF at page 96 ↗

Page transcription

History and Bibliography of Botanical Book Illustration

Die botanische Buchillustration
IHRE GESCHICHTE UND BIBLIOGRAPHIE
by
Dr. CLAUS NISSEN
Two volumes in 4to.

THIS WORK, written in German by the librarian of the Mainz City Library, is the first attempt to present a complete survey of the History and Bibliography of Botanical Illustration of all countries from the invention of printing down to the present day. Every librarian, book-collector, bookseller and botanist knows how difficult it is to collate old botanical books. There was until recently no reliable reference work which could be consulted to find out whether a work containing botanical plates was complete or defective, or to identify the artists and the publishers, or to distinguish between first and later editions. There was no complete survey to show the various literary, artistic and scientific aspects of old botanical works.

The author analyzes in the bibliographical volume of this work over 3,000 titles from many countries consisting not only of illustrated works, but also of illustrated textbooks and even important studies in periodicals. There are at the end added indexes of titles, artists and plant names.

The first volume of about 300 pages contains the History, the second volume the Bibliography. They will be issued in 4 to 5 parts, each part consisting of 160 pages, half of it History and the other half Bibliography, and published in intervals of 4 months. Price of each part of 160 pages is $9.00, postfree delivery within the United States territory.

There cannot be any doubt that this work, the result of over fifteen years' hard work and intensive research, is to be a standard work of Botanical Science and an indispensable reference book for the librarian, collector and bookseller.

The first part has been published.
Please mail your orders to:

HERBERT REICHNER
34 East 62nd Street · New York 21, N.Y.

PLEASE TURN OVER