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 32 · DO #1772 · 135_Friesner_Bx2FF5_r

Collection
Friesner, Ray Charles (1894–1952) papers
Item/Folder
Correspondence and Notes, May–August 1941, n.d.
Digital Object
DO #1772, page 32
Collection-level dates
1929–1948, n.d.
Open PDF at page 32 ↗

Page transcription

BOTANY EXHIBITS

Room 330--General Botany Laboratory
1. Mounted Specimens: Marine Algae, Ferns, Grasses, Sedges, Mosses, et al.
2. Exhibits of Dutch Elm Disease with explanation by attendant.
3. Microscopic demonstrations of Plant Structures.
4. Models and other equipment for general botany.
5. Experiments with explanations fo plant pigments and autumn coloration.
6. Exhibits of studies on tree growth.
7. Card files of current literature in various fields of botany.

Room 331--Botanical Conservatory
1. Exhibits of various types of plants used in botany courses,

Room 331 A. Soil Testing Laboratory
1. Exhibit with explanation of apparatus for determining moisture-holding capacity and wilting coefficient of soils.
2. Exhibits of reprints in Botany

Room 334--Botanical Library
1. Bound volumes and current numbers of over 200 different botanical periodicals regularly received by the library.
2. Exhibit of recent publications by members of the department.
3. Special exhibit of foreign periodicals received by the library.

Room 338--Bacteriological Laboratory
1. Modern Bacteriological equipment.
2. Cultures of living bacteria.
3. Microscopic exhibit of bacteria.
4. Demonstration of Water contamination determination

Room 342--Plant Physiology, Ecology and Microtechnics Laboratory
1. Equipment for preparing microscope slides.
2. Evaporation apparatus in action.
3. Evaporation equipment standardizing apparatus in action.
4. Pest borer apparatus with samples of pest recently obtained.
5. Experiments in plant physiology and ecology.
6. Correlation between tree growth and Butler University history.

Room 343--Botanical Herbarium
1. Exhibits of over 30,000 mounted specimens from all parts of the world.
2. Special exhibits of mounted garden plants.
3. Demonstration of herbarium mounting.
4. Special display of recent valuable and rare Taxonomic books,