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. 10 journeys so far, 1945 to 1956, 5,221 specimens between them.

5 collectors and expeditions355 days in the field173,071 km between stops2,240 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

F. Raymond Fosberg

21 islands · Nov 1951 – Apr 1952

F. Raymond Fosberg across 21 islands, November 1951 – April 1952

672 specimens · 57 stops · 145 days · 13,644 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

R.S. Cowan

11 islands · Aug – Sep 1946

R.S. Cowan across 11 islands, August – September 1946

484 specimens · 17 stops · 41 days · 1,023 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

Benjamin C. Stone

13 islands · Nov 1955 – Feb 1956

Benjamin C. Stone across 13 islands, November 1955 – February 1956

233 specimens · 36 stops · 93 days · 11,844 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

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

F. Raymond Fosberg

9 islands of the Marshall Islands · 4–15 Feb 1956

F. Raymond Fosberg across 9 islands of the Marshall Islands, 4–15 February 1956

102 specimens · 11 stops · 12 days · 1,332 km

F. Raymond Fosberg

7 islands · Jul – Aug 1952

F. Raymond Fosberg across 7 islands, July – August 1952

52 specimens · 12 stops · 38 days

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.