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 10 · DO #301 · 204_Popenoe_Bx23FF299r

Collection
Wilson Popenoe (1892–1975) family papers
Item/Folder
Robinson, T. Ralph, 31 May 1957 –3 June 1966
Digital Object
DO #301, page 10
Collection-level dates
1882–1975
Open PDF at page 10 ↗

Page transcription

Anti-ua, Guatemala, 13 Sept 1957

Mr T. Ralph Robinson
Terra Ceia, Florida.

Dear Ralph:

Many thanks for your letter of 27 August, and for placing the order with the Grand Island Nurseries at Eustis. On further consideration, Mortensen and Mario Lewy and I believe we had best increase the order to ten lbs. Will you please do the needful? Ben Birdsall who is now the ICA man in agriculture at Santa Tecla is strong in the belief that we had better lean heavily on Cleopatra because of the possibility that tristeza may show up in Central America at any time. I guess he is right. We will use a little sour orange stock, but stick to Cleo as soon as we can get it in quantity. We found a number of fine large Cleo trees about 25 miles from San Salvador, but there will be no seed available until next April, and that is a long time to wait.

We got a pretty good look at Citrus in Salvador. I have now set my limits for good Washington navels at 3500 to 5000 feet. This means proper growing conditions plus good crops of really good fruit. On the coast navels do not bear at all well and the fruit is punk. I am strong for the Temple orange; we found one tree and the fruit is highly flavored and spicy when sweet oranges at the same season are poor because of the bad weather conditions. Seeing Temple behave well makes me want to go in for the tangelos also; and there are a few young trees in the nursery at San Andres which will eventually provide buds of all three good varieties. At the place where the Temple orange is growing there are trees of Marsh, Duncan and Triumph grapefruit. The Triumph is so much sweeter than the other two that I am inclined to think rather well of it. The reason grapefruit will have a hard time becoming really popular here is that us Latins like sweet fruits and grapefruit, especially if grown above 2000 feet, is not sweet. We are trying to put Hamlin and Pineapple and Jaffa oranges in the picture, and may be able to do so without bringing in any vegetative material from the States. A F Camp warned me two years ago against bringing any more trees from Florida or California, because of the tristeza hazard. Mortensen thinks there might be a negligible risk if we bring from Texas. We would like to get the red grapefruit from there. I think we are very fortunate in having Mortensen down here just at this time, because of his excellent background.

I am planning to revise my Fruticultura Centroamericana this autumn. I wonder if you would give me a few notes re Citrus stocks (and perhaps varieties also) as you did last time. There are doubtless some new developments. I will appreciate your help greatly. In this new edition I plan to include rather lengthy discussion of the excellent developments in vegetative propagation which have been brought about by Lynch and Nelson. They have really licked the mango business for us - we used to be lucky if we got 50 or 60% "takes" and now we have no trouble getting 85 or 90%.

Hoping that this finds you in excellent health, and with old time regards (as DF always put it),

Sincerely,

cc Dr Mario Lewy van Severen