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 40 · DO #3899 · 296_Lowy_Bx1FF27b_r

Collection
Bernard Lowy (1916–1992) papers
Item/Folder
Dr. Wasser II 1989-90; Kira, May 1989 – September 1989
Digital Object
DO #3899, page 40
Collection-level dates
1949–1990
Open PDF at page 40 ↗

Page transcription

SOVIET MYCOLOGIST TO VISIT THE DEPARTMENT

Dr. S. P. Wasser (b. 1946) of the Kholodny Institute of Botany in Kiev, the Ukrainian SSR, will visit the Botany Department for about 3 weeks beginning April 25. He is Head of the "Department of Spore Plants" (i.e., cryptogamic botany) of the Institute, and a Corresponding Member of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences. He is a mycologist with an impressive publication record which includes several books on fungi (in Russian) of the Ukraine and other parts of the Soviet Union. His interests include techniques for computerization of data and herbarium methods. Dr. Wasser will present a seminar (date to be announced) on his work in the USSR and would like to become acquainted with research projects currently under way in the Department of Botany. He will be working with Dr. Bernard Lowy on some Amazonian collections in the LSU Mycology Herbarium, Radioisotope Building. The Botany Department will be the host for this visit, and Dr. Wasser will stay at the Faculty Club. On his return trip home, Dr. Lowy has arranged to have him visit Dr. Ron Petersen at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Dr. Clark Rogerson and others at the NY Botanical Garden, and Dr. Richard Korf at Cornell University.

MISCELLANEOUS

Dr. Shirley Tucker will attend the Executive Council meeting of the Botanical Society of America in Bloomington, Indiana, April 8-9. She is Past-President of the organization, as well as Chairman of the Election Committee and Corresponding Member Committee.

April 3-7, Dr. Liz Zimmer and Keith Hamby will attend an ICN-UCLA Workshop in Colorado on "The Polymerase Chain Reaction."

Dr. Russell Chapman will attend the April Panel Meeting of the NSF Systematics Program in Washington, D.C.

ALUMNI PROFILES

Bill Good, Program Supervisor, Coastal Vegetation Program:

Upon completing a thesis in the Botany Department in the area of forest ecology with Dr. Stephen Whipple, Bill pursued a doctorate degree at the Marine Science Department at LSU. His field of interest was physiological adaptations of tree roots to anaerobic soil conditions. He graduated in 1985 and was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to study root metabolic responses to controlled soil atmospheres under the direction of Professor R.M.M. Crawford at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland. Upon returning home, Bill accepted his first "real" job with the Louisiana Geological Survey as principal investigator of the "Coastal Vegetation and Wetland Restoration Technical Assistance" contract. The purpose of this contract was to explore methods of utilizing vegetative and other low-cost techniques for wetland restoration. This program was recently transferred to the Coastal Restoration Division of the Department of Natural Resources by executive order. Current program activities include the development and implementation of: sediment capture fences, wave-dampening fences, bay-bottom terracing, Spartina alterniflora seed distribution techniques, transplanting projects, herbivore exclosure projects, and a rational and systematic framework for planning vegetative restoration projects.

HABITAT PROTECTION
from the Morning Advocate...
"Couple Protect Plant Habitat

Rare insect-eating plants that grow in Louisiana bogs are endangered by human activities, warn two Shreveport scientists who are working to develop forest management programs to preserve the bogs. The plants may die off without measures to protect their fragile bog habitats, according to anthropologist Michael MacRoberts and his wife Barbara, a botanist. 'It only takes a little bit of human interference to damage or destroy a bog,' MacRoberts said. The MacRoberts said they have advised foresters on preserving the habitats until a more permanent solution is reached, such as officially protected status. The bogs are mostly on hillsides of Natchitoches, Vernon and Beauregard parishes in central and western Louisiana, and in the flatwoods of Washington, St. Tammany and Tangipahoa parishes. The bogs are home to exotic varieties of plant life other than the carnivorous plants, including orchids. In a bog, water slowly percolates up through the topsoil. The continual flow of water carries away nutrients. Carnivorous plants eat insects to supplement their nutrient diet. The carnivorous plants native to Louisiana include the pitcher plant (yellow and parrots), sundews, bladderworts and butterworts. MacRoberts said the rare, meat-eating species will not adapt to life as a potted plant and advised against collecting them for novelties."