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 136 · DO #4847 · 231_Rogers_Bx7FF18_r

Collection
David James Rogers (1918–2007) papers
Item/Folder
FAO - Correspondence, 1974
Digital Object
DO #4847, page 136
Collection-level dates
1948–1977
Open PDF at page 136 ↗

Page transcription

5/24/74
4/29/74
Department of Anthropology
Yale University
New Haven, Conn. 06520

Dr. D.J. Rogers
Dept. of Environmental Population
and Organismic Biology
University of Colorado
Boulder, Colorado

Dear Dr. Rogers:

I am a Yale graduate student in anthropology, specializing
in the archaeology of northern South America. I hold a
keen interest in manioc domestication and would greatly
appreciate some advice in regards to a project I am under-
taking this summer in Venezuela.

Several graduate students, including myself, at Yale are
researching the potential of opal phytoliths as a paleobotanical
tool for detecting and identifying vegetation in archaeological
sites. If you are unfamiliar with this technique, there is a good summary article by Irwin Rovner (1971) in Quaternary
Research (v.1: 343-359) entitled "Potential of Opal Phytoliths
For Use in Paleoecological Reconstruction." If this is a viable
method for detecting domesticated plants it has great potential
for identifying sites where particular plants were utilized,
especially those species which are rarely preserved
in the archaeological record such as tubers. Unfortunately,
no one to my knowledge has established a phytolith reference
collection for domesticated plants.

Since I am planning to be in Venezuela this summer I thought
it would be an opportune time to start collecting cultivars
for purposes of extracting phytoliths, evaluating their
archaeological potential and establishing a reference collection.
Since manioc is so important to issues of tropical lowland
plant domestication I would like to collect both wild and
domesticated varieties for purposes of comparison. I foresee
few problems in collecting domesticated manioc but I have
no idea how easy it will be to find wild plants. I was
wondering whether you can provide me with hints or suggestions
for finding and identifying wild manioc or refer me to anyone
in Venezuela that maybe interested in this problem. I intend
to be conducting an archaeological reconnaissance of the Guasare
river basin in northwestern Venezuela (area of the Rancho
Peludo site) where most of my collecting of wild varieties
will have to be done. However, if you feel this to be a poor
area for this purpose I could probably arrange a side trip
to another region. Also, do you know of anyone who has investigated