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 152 · DO #5020 · 179_Langman_Bx1FF26_r

Collection
Ida Kaplan Langman (1904–1991) papers
Item/Folder
Grant proposals, etc., 1959–1964
Digital Object
DO #5020, page 152
Collection-level dates
1919–1980
Open PDF at page 152 ↗

Page transcription

*Blumea 1934 to 1955
*Boletin de la Biblioteca Menendez y Pelayo 1919 to 1938
*Bonplandia 1853 to 1862
*Botanical Cabinet 1817 to 1833
*Botanical Gazette 1875 to 1957
*Botanical Leaflets 1950 to 1954
*Botanical Memoirs 1919 to 1925
*Botanical Register 1815 to 1847
*Botanical Review 1935 to 1957
*Botanische Abhandlungen 1922 to 1932
*Botanisch Jahrbucher 1880 to 1955
*Botanische Mitteilungen aus den tropen 1888 to 1901
*Botanische Zeitung 1843 to 1868
*Botanisk Tidskrift 1955
*Botaniska Notiser 1839 to 1953
*Breslau - K. Botanischen Garten - Arbeiten 1892
*Brittonia 1931 to 1957
*Bromeliad Society Bulletin 1951 to 1955
*Bruxelles - Bulletin du Jardin Botanique de l'Etat 1902 to 1957
Universite Libre - Institut Botanique various publications
*Bulletin Botanique 1830 to 1832
*Cactus and Succulent Journal 1929 to 1957
*Centro de Estudios Americanistas de Sevilla, Boletin 1913 to 1925
*Ciba Symposium 1939 to 1951
*Cytologia 1929 to 1955
*Economic Botany 1947 to 1954
*Edinburgh - Botanical Society, Transactions 1836 to 1954
*Evolution 1947 to 1956
*Genetios 1916 to 1955
*Mittheilungen der Geographischen Gesellschaft Hamburg 1876 to 1955
*Herbarist 1935 to 1954
*Hilgardia 1925 to 1956
*Hispanic American Historical Review 1918 to 1954
*Ibero Americana 1932 to 1954
*Instituto Botanico J.A. Cavanilles, Anales 14 vols to 1956
(Jardin Botanico de Madrid)
James Sprunt Studies in Historical and Political Science 1900 to present
*Journal de la Societe des Americanistes de Paris 1896 to 1952
*Journal of Heredity 1910 to 1954
*Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnaean Society of London - Botany 1855-1955
*Journal of the Royal Geographic Society 1830 to 1880
*Linnaea 1826 to 1882
*Lloydia 1938 to 1954
*Maya Society Quarterly 1931 to 1932
*Michigan University Herbarium, Contributions 1939 to 1942
*Phytomorphology 1951 to 1955
*Revista de Indias 1940 to 1954
*Silvae Orbis 1940 to 1944
*Svenska Vetenskaps Akademien Handlingar 1739 to 1955
*University of Pennsylvania,Contributions from the Botanical Laboratory 1892-1938
*Variedades de Ciencias Literatura y Artes 1803 - 1805

As can be seen, review of the magazines is being carried on mainly in alphabetical order, according to the name of the publication, and the "A" and "B" sections of the list are almost, though not entirely, complete.