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 5 · DO #197 · 204_Popenoe_Bx12FF196r

Collection
Wilson Popenoe (1892–1975) family papers
Item/Folder
Lynch, S. John, 19 September 1939–14 July 1960
Digital Object
DO #197, page 5
Collection-level dates
1882–1975
Open PDF at page 5 ↗

Page transcription

Rancho California, Almuñecar (Granada) Spain
25 March 1958

Prof. S. John Lynch,
University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida.

Dear Johnny:

Here we are at last, established very comfortable in a nice little apartment in this lovely valley, which is full of cherimoya trees and some day will probably be fully developed with avocados and some other tropical fruits. Looks to me as though they never have temperatures below zero, and the valley soils are the like of which you never have seen in Dade county, not even in the Redlands district.

I think there is a fine chance of lychees doing well here. I can't see why they shouldn't. We will need some good guavas, too; there are guavas here but only a few seedlings of no value. I don't think we will ever do much with mangoes - not enough heat in the ripening season - and this probably applies also to papayas.

Don Luis Sarasola, who runs this beautiful little Rancho California (of course you won't like that name but I do), has quite a batch of fine Mexican avocado seedlings planted in orchard form which we are going to graft in May. We will have to get some scions from California and Florida. I believe the Guatemalan x West Indian hybrids will do well here, in fact I think ever West Indians may be alright. There are some in this region already; I shall be seeing them shortly. Yesterday Don Luis took me to see what he has reason to believe is the only grafted avocado in Spain, so far as trees in bearing are concerned. It proved to be a fine Guatemalan, probably my Benik, sent over here from Washington by the USDA some fifteen years ago. Fine crop of fruit this year.

You can't beat the oranges in this region, not even on the Indian River. And yesterday we got a few Marsh grapefruits, not bad but this climate is cool for grapefruit. I don't see any limes - what we call Key Limes - over here and yesterday I wrote John Popenoe asking him to send me some seeds. I wouldn't dare risk bringing over any grafted trees from Florida - you know why. But I am wondering about tangelos; what could we expect from Mineola seeds? I don't know much about this nucellar seedling business; does it work with any hybrid Citrus fruits? If it does, by all means send me at this address a hundred or more Mineola seeds and we will see what we can do with them.

There is going to be a lot to see and do around the Mediterranean. We figure on going over to Israel about June or July and then I think we ought to see the Canary Islands and Madeira. But the real opportunity lies in getting all the best avocados established in this part of the world, and next the lychees and perhaps macadamias. I am not so keen about the macadamias but they might do well on some of the thin dry soils of which we have plenty over here.

I shall be writing you again before long. The only point now is, can we do anything with tangelo seeds? If not we will have to forget it because I would sure burn in Hell if I ever introduced tristeza into this country. These folks have enough troubles already, with the Medfly.

Ever yours,

Wilson Popenoe