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. 18 journeys so far, 1902 to 1985, 8,012 specimens between them.

8 collectors and expeditions582 days in the field393,762 km between stops4,424 photographed specimens

F. Raymond Fosberg

56 islands · Apr – Nov 1946

F. Raymond Fosberg across 56 islands, April – November 1946

2,439 specimens · 102 stops · 209 days · 105,682 km

Ernani Meñez

50 islands · Jun – Sep 1960

Ernani Meñez across 50 islands, June – September 1960

2,317 specimens · 38 stops · 100 days · 40,857 km

Benjamin C. Stone

20 islands · Sep 1957 – Feb 1958

Benjamin C. Stone across 20 islands, September 1957 – February 1958

507 specimens · 64 stops · 154 days · 21,480 km

Harold St.John

13 islands · Jul – Nov 1946

Harold St.John across 13 islands, July – November 1946

590 specimens · 27 stops · 120 days · 9,900 km

Maxwell S. Doty

11 islands · Sep 1953 – Aug 1954

Maxwell S. Doty across 11 islands, September 1953 – August 1954

309 specimens · 40 stops · 315 days · 78,333 km

Wm. R. Taylor

6 islands · Feb – Aug 1946

Wm. R. Taylor across 6 islands, February – August 1946

242 specimens · 52 stops · 156 days · 5,901 km

Harold St.John

7 islands · Dec 1946 – Feb 1947

Harold St.John across 7 islands, December 1946 – February 1947

291 specimens · 17 stops · 67 days · 4,927 km

Donald P. Rogers

11 islands · Apr – Sep 1946

Donald P. Rogers across 11 islands, April – September 1946

275 specimens · 28 stops · 162 days · 6,269 km

Harold St.John

15 islands · Dec 1945 – May 1946

Harold St.John across 15 islands, December 1945 – May 1946

194 specimens · 23 stops · 147 days · 16,487 km

Benjamin C. Stone

14 islands · Jun – Sep 1956

Benjamin C. Stone across 14 islands, June – September 1956

168 specimens · 36 stops · 116 days · 49,852 km

F. Raymond Fosberg

8 islands · Sep – Oct 1960

F. Raymond Fosberg across 8 islands, September – October 1960

112 specimens · 22 stops · 56 days · 12,270 km

Harold St.John

11 islands · Jul – Aug 1949

Harold St.John across 11 islands, July – August 1949

180 specimens · 15 stops · 30 days · 6,890 km

Harold St.John

Oʻahu and Ujelang Atoll · Feb – Jul 1952

Harold St.John in Oʻahu and Ujelang Atoll, February – July 1952

66 specimens · 18 stops · 160 days

Benjamin C. Stone

4 islands · Nov 1959 – Jan 1960

Benjamin C. Stone across 4 islands, November 1959 – January 1960

69 specimens · 11 stops · 48 days · 4,760 km

Benjamin C. Stone

3 islands · Mar – May 1956

Benjamin C. Stone in Oʻahu, Utirik Atoll and Pohnpei, March – May 1956

70 specimens · 9 stops · 71 days · 10,487 km

Maxwell S. Doty

5 islands · Jan – May 1959

Maxwell S. Doty across 5 islands, January – May 1959

70 specimens · 17 stops · 110 days · 10,865 km

F. Raymond Fosberg

3 islands · Oct – Nov 1985

F. Raymond Fosberg in Bikini Atoll, Oʻahu and Kwajalein Atoll, October – November 1985

62 specimens · 13 stops · 24 days · 4,617 km

William Alanson Bryan

5 islands · Jul – Aug 1902

William Alanson Bryan across 5 islands, July – August 1902

51 specimens · 8 stops · 32 days · 4,185 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.