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. 168 journeys so far, 1912 to 2017, 59,948 specimens between them.

83 collectors and expeditions4,574 days in the field1,448,842 km between stops35,631 photographed specimens

B.G. Decker

Hiva Oa and Hivaoa · Sep – Dec 1963

B.G. Decker in Hiva Oa and Hivaoa, September – December 1963

250 specimens · 26 stops · 83 days

Gerrit Parmele Wilder

3 islands of French Polynesia · Aug – Dec 1932

Gerrit Parmele Wilder in Makatea, Tahiti and Moorea, August – December 1932

218 specimens · 23 stops · 120 days · 1,308 km

P.A. Schafer

4 islands of French Polynesia · Jan – Apr 1975

P.A. Schafer across 4 islands of French Polynesia, January – April 1975

231 specimens · 36 stops · 89 days · 329 km

Hugh Shaw MacKee

9 islands · Jul – Sep 1955

Hugh Shaw MacKee across 9 islands, July – September 1955

222 specimens · 28 stops · 64 days · 5,455 km

Alastair M. Adamson

Tahiti and Moorea · Oct – Dec 1928

Alastair M. Adamson in Tahiti and Moorea, October – December 1928

203 specimens · 15 stops · 49 days · 153 km

Royce L. Oliver

3 islands of French Polynesia · Jan – Mar 1975

Royce L. Oliver in Hiva Oa, Tahuata and Hivaoa, January – March 1975

220 specimens · 27 stops · 58 days · 222 km

B.G. Decker

8 islands · Sep – Nov 1974

B.G. Decker across 8 islands, September – November 1974

227 specimens · 24 stops · 63 days · 5,150 km

Stokes

Rapa · Jun – Oct 1921

Stokes in Rapa, June – October 1921

174 specimens · 12 stops · 143 days · 1,215 km

Steven L. Montgomery

9 islands of French Polynesia · Jul – Oct 1988

Steven L. Montgomery across 9 islands of French Polynesia, July – October 1988

277 specimens · 18 stops · 73 days · 10,669 km

Reid Moran

3 islands · Jun – Sep 1954

Reid Moran in Guam, Tinian and California, June – September 1954

197 specimens · 23 stops · 86 days · 127,923 km

Kenneth R. Wood

9 islands · Jun – Nov 1997

Kenneth R. Wood across 9 islands, June – November 1997

164 specimens · 33 stops · 139 days · 49,817 km

Betsy H. Gagne

7 islands of French Polynesia · Jul – Sep 1988

Betsy H. Gagne across 7 islands of French Polynesia, July – September 1988

267 specimens · 15 stops · 68 days · 10,816 km

H.O. Whittier

3 islands of French Polynesia · Sep – Nov 1964

H.O. Whittier in Tahiti, Moorea and Taiarapu, September – November 1964

131 specimens · 23 stops · 75 days · 43 km

Benjamin C. Stone

5 islands · Jul – Sep 1981

Benjamin C. Stone across 5 islands, July – September 1981

220 specimens · 21 stops · 49 days · 9,878 km

Jacques Florence

5 islands of French Polynesia · May – Jul 1990

Jacques Florence across 5 islands of French Polynesia, May – July 1990

302 specimens · 8 stops · 60 days · 929 km

John Francis Gray Stokes

Rapa and Rapaq · Jul – Nov 1921

John Francis Gray Stokes in Rapa and Rapaq, July – November 1921

149 specimens · 21 stops · 116 days

Jan Newhouse

6 islands · Dec 1968 – Feb 1969

Jan Newhouse across 6 islands, December 1968 – February 1969

162 specimens · 13 stops · 62 days · 4,798 km

Whitney Expedition

27 islands of French Polynesia · Feb – Jul 1923

Whitney Expedition, February – July 1923

157 specimens · 34 stops · 154 days · 1,174 km

Jacques Florence

4 islands · Apr – Jul 1991

Jacques Florence across 4 islands, April – July 1991

294 specimens · 7 stops · 85 days · 5,985 km

Gerrit Parmele Wilder

7 islands · Aug – Sep 1923

Gerrit Parmele Wilder across 7 islands, August – September 1923

171 specimens · 15 stops · 36 days · 5,391 km

Jacques Florence

6 islands of French Polynesia · Nov – Dec 1982

Jacques Florence across 6 islands of French Polynesia, November – December 1982

276 specimens · 8 stops · 47 days · 3,804 km

J.C. Chapin

15 islands · Oct 1934 – Jan 1935

J.C. Chapin across 15 islands, October 1934 – January 1935

125 specimens · 26 stops · 107 days · 13,508 km

van Royen

3 islands · Jun – Sep 1967

van Royen in Oʻahu, Kauaʻi and Moorea, June – September 1967

147 specimens · 11 stops · 80 days · 8,799 km

Jan Newhouse

3 islands of French Polynesia · 2–24 Aug 1967

Jan Newhouse in Tahiti, Bora Bora and Moorea, 2–24 August 1967

139 specimens · 18 stops · 23 days · 941 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.