Bishop MuseumExplore

Journeys

The expeditions, reassembled

Every dated label is a diary entry. Read a collector’s labels in order and the voyage comes back: the islands in sequence, the days at each, the specimens from every stop. 16 journeys so far, 1923 to 1975, 12,040 specimens between them.

12 collectors and expeditions765 days in the field369,517 km between stops8,949 photographed specimens

Edwin Horace Bryan Jr.

85 islands · Nov 1923 – Nov 1924

Edwin Horace Bryan Jr. across 85 islands, November 1923 – November 1924

2,392 specimens · 109 stops · 342 days · 30,927 km

Laurence H. MacDaniels

12 islands · Oct 1926 – Jul 1927

Laurence H. MacDaniels across 12 islands, October 1926 – July 1927

2,144 specimens · 105 stops · 274 days · 40,135 km

Yoshio KondoKay Kondo

12 islands of Fiji · Jun – Oct 1938

Yoshio KondoKay Kondo across 12 islands of Fiji, June – October 1938

2,255 specimens · 28 stops · 115 days · 15,460 km

Seymour H. Sohmer

Sri Lanka and Oʻahu · Oct – Dec 1975

Seymour H. Sohmer in Sri Lanka and Oʻahu, October – December 1975

936 specimens · 26 stops · 44 days

Harold St.John

9 islands · Jun – Nov 1938

Harold St.John across 9 islands, June – November 1938

1,315 specimens · 9 stops · 172 days · 5,917 km

Grady L. Webster

10 islands · Jun – Sep 1968

Grady L. Webster across 10 islands, June – September 1968

510 specimens · 60 stops · 111 days · 38,525 km

Harold St.John

7 islands · Apr – Aug 1937

Harold St.John across 7 islands, April – August 1937

459 specimens · 38 stops · 139 days · 68,706 km

Harold St.John

4 islands · Oct 1936 – Feb 1937

Harold St.John across 4 islands, October 1936 – February 1937

352 specimens · 20 stops · 95 days · 23,771 km

Johnson Randall

10 islands · Jan – Apr 1973

Johnson Randall across 10 islands, January – April 1973

499 specimens · 49 stops · 110 days · 10,184 km

H.U. Stauffer

10 islands · Dec 1963 – Apr 1964

H.U. Stauffer across 10 islands, December 1963 – April 1964

165 specimens · 43 stops · 140 days · 17,939 km

Otto Degener

4 islands · Nov – Dec 1960

Otto Degener across 4 islands, November – December 1960

150 specimens · 23 stops · 43 days · 12,274 km

A. Meebold

3 islands · Jun – Jul 1932

A. Meebold in Viti Levu, Oʻahu and Tutuila, June – July 1932

336 specimens · 4 stops · 31 days · 5,857 km

Harold St.John

5 islands · Jun – Aug 1947

Harold St.John across 5 islands, June – August 1947

162 specimens · 13 stops · 63 days · 23,782 km

Johnson Randall

5 islands · Jun – Dec 1971

Johnson Randall across 5 islands, June – December 1971

221 specimens · 23 stops · 158 days · 27,137 km

Isa Degener

4 islands · Nov – Dec 1960

Isa Degener across 4 islands, November – December 1960

102 specimens · 20 stops · 40 days · 12,274 km

Donald Anderson

6 islands · Aug – Nov 1969

Donald Anderson across 6 islands, August – November 1969

42 specimens · 15 stops · 94 days · 36,629 km

How a journey is found

Every specimen with a full date and a known collector is a diary entry. The days are read in order; a gap of more than three weeks ends one journey and starts the next. Days spent where a collector lived most of their life are home, not travel, and are left out.

A journey needs at least five days, forty specimens and two places. Within it, a run of days spent within about ten kilometres is one stop; the stop’s point is the middle of the labels that carry coordinates, or the island’s centre when none do.

Companions are the people whose own labels put them in the same place on the same days. Staff can name a journey, write about it and feature it; everything else here is read straight off the specimens, and is rebuilt as the records improve.