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 113 · DO #4927 · 231_Rogers_Bx9FF9_r

Collection
David James Rogers (1918–2007) papers
Item/Folder
Manihot - Correpondence (Luis Montoya, Dr. Popenoe, Dr. Somer), 1963–1971
Digital Object
DO #4927, page 113
Collection-level dates
1948–1977
Open PDF at page 113 ↗

Page transcription

INSTITUTO INTERAMERICANO DE CIENCIAS AGRICOLAS DE LA OEA

El Instituto es un organismo especializado de la
Organización de los Estados Americanos. Fue esta-
blecido por los Gobiernos de las Repúblicas Amé-
ricanas en 1944 para promover su desarrollo econó-
mico y social a través de la educación y la investiga-
ción.

ZONA ANDINA
Teléfono 32090
Apartado 478
Lima, Perú
Cable: AGROEA - Lima
N° 100
June 8, 1964

Dr. David J. Rogers
New York Botanical Garden
Bronx Park, New York

Dear Dave:

By air parcel post I sent you a box containing seven vials with yuca flowers
and buds. They belong to the following cultivars:

Colorado, from La Rinconada, a place close to Lima.
Huacho 1 and Huacho 2, originally collected in a place called Huacho, a-
bout 100 kilometers north of Lima.
Amarilla, from La Molina.
Norteña, from Tumbes, a locality in northern Peru.
Palmira 1, originally collected in Palmira, Colombia and introduced at La
Molina.
Tangui, from Mala, a locality on the coastal area about fifty kilometers south
of Lima.

The botanical samples are being prepared and will be sent to you as soon as
they are dry.

With best regards, yours,

Jorge León
JL/ir

El Instituto tiene su Dirección General en Costa Rica, Apartado 4359, San José. Sus tres Oficinas Regionales abarcan los siguientes Países: Zona Andina, Apartado 478, Lima, Perú (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador y Venezuela), Zona Norte c/o Instituto Interamericano de Ciencias Agrícolas de la OEA, Apartado 4359, San José, Costa Rica (México Istmo Centroamericano y Antillas Mayores) Zona Sur, Casilla de Correos 1217, Montevideo, Uruguay (Argentina, Brasil, Chile Paraguay y Uruguay). Mantiene dos centros: Centro Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza para graduados, Turrialba, Costa Rica, y Centro de Investigación y Enseñanza para la Zona Templada en el Instituto Fitotécnico del Uruguay, La Estanzuela, c/o Instituto Interamericano de Ciencias Agrícolas de la OEA, Zona Sur, Casilla de Correos 1217, Montevideo, Uruguay. Administra los proyectos 39 (Enseñanza Técnica Profesional), 201 (Crédito Agrícola) y 206 (Reforma Agraria), del Programa de Cooperación Técnica de la OEA, patrocinados por el Consejo Interamericano Económico y Social (CIES). Mantiene también núcleos de investigación y enseñanza
para graduados en instituciones de los países miembros.