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 45 · DO #4857 · 231_Rogers_Bx7FF28_r

Collection
David James Rogers (1918–2007) papers
Item/Folder
Preliminary Working Papers for 1st CIDS Contract, 1974
Digital Object
DO #4857, page 45
Collection-level dates
1948–1977
Open PDF at page 45 ↗

Page transcription

C. Active collections
Requirements related to this function are specified in the report of the Fourth Session of the Panel of Experts on Plant Exploration and Introduction, paragraphs A2(c), (d), (g), and (i).

D. Genetic resources centres in regions of genetic diversity
In order to meet the needs of a world programme of genetic conservation the Panel supports the creation of an international network of genetic resources centres. This network will be based on centres in areas of great crop genetic diversity, and on international crop research institutes. In addition some national institutions in developing countries which have already extensive international activities would be expected to participate in the network.

Within the network these centres and institutions would collaborate with organizations in the developed countries such as CSIRO, Canberra, Australia; National Agricultural Research Institute, Versailles, France; the Institute of Crop Science and Seed Research, Braunschweig-Völkenrode, Germany; Central Institute for Research on Cultivated Plants, Gatersleben, German Democratic Republic; Institute of Agrobotany, Tapiosele, Hungary; Germplasm Laboratory, Bari, Italy; National Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Hiratsuka, Japan; Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, U.K.; the USDA Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville, Maryland and the National Seed Storage Laboratory, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA; the N.I. Vavilov Institute of Plant Industry, Leningrad, USSR, etc.

The functions of the genetic resources centres will include some or all of the following, as defined in the Beltsville report of 1972 as follows:

1. Exploration and collection of material, and collaboration with national centres;
2. Identification and preliminary evaluation of materials;
3. Initial planting of introduced material according to the quarantine laws of the country in which the centre is located;
4. Exchange and distribution of seed and vegetative stocks, including, where appropriate, the introduction of breeding lines and advanced cultivars;
5. Maintenance and storage of seed and vegetative stocks for medium or long-term preservation;
6. Documentation and exchange of information with other centres in the network in an internationally accepted form. Some centres will be able to take advantage of existing local facilities for computerized information storage and retrieval;
7. Organization of genetic stock rejuvenation by national centres wherever possible, or otherwise by regional centre;
8. Organization of training programmes for personnel in collaboration with national or international training schemes;