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:

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 149 · DO #1518 · 392_blunt_FF1_r

Collection
Wilfrid Jasper Walter Blunt (1901–1987) correspondence
Item/Folder
Correspondence , 1959–1964, .n.d.
Digital Object
DO #1518, page 149
Collection-level dates
1959–1987, n.d.
Open PDF at page 149 ↗

Page transcription

C. The professional botanist who wishes to know more about this particular, and possibly rather unfamiliar, field of botany - Botanical Illustration.
D. Artists and art students in general, especially those with an interest in the graphic arts or design.
E. Uninformed amateur botanists and horticulturists.
F. The casual and wholly uninformed visitor who is drawn to visit the collection through a mild interest in "Art," or "Flowers," or even through idle curiosity.
These are listed in order of descending importance, but I feel that all categories deserve in some measure to be catered for.

Seminars. What would obviously be of immense value to A, B, and C would be the holding of Seminars. But, as I see it, this must be a long-term policy, and could not be undertaken until the Collection has been substantially enlarged and made reasonably representative. It seems to me to be too soon to discuss this project in any detail, though it should be constantly borne in mind when additions to the Collection are under consideration. In the mean time there is much to be done, and I would make the following proposals:
1. Exhibitions. Preparation of a collection of full-sized photographs of representative examples of botanical illustration of all periods and all countries should be begun. This should also include specimens of the best engraved work, so that it would be possible frequently to hold changed exhibitions such as, e.g.:
   1. The incunabula herbals
   2. Fuchs and Brunfels
   3. Nicolas Robert and his contemporaries
   4. French flower painters from Robert to Redouté
   5. Ehret and his circle
   6. The illustrators of Curtis' Botanical Magazine
   7. Dürer and Leonardo as botanical artists
   8. Some contemporary American botanical artists