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, 1936 to 2008, 6,751 specimens between them.

8 collectors and expeditions402 days in the field340,784 km between stops3,299 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

F. Raymond Fosberg

28 islands · Jun – Sep 1965

F. Raymond Fosberg across 28 islands, June – September 1965

606 specimens · 53 stops · 87 days · 32,275 km

R.L. Stemmermann

28 islands · Nov 1977 – Feb 1978

R.L. Stemmermann across 28 islands, November 1977 – February 1978

620 specimens · 70 stops · 102 days · 20,526 km

Robert Hobdy

17 islands · Apr – Aug 1982

Robert Hobdy across 17 islands, April – August 1982

250 specimens · 24 stops · 106 days · 16,977 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

Harold St.John

16 islands · Jun – Aug 1956

Harold St.John across 16 islands, June – August 1956

140 specimens · 31 stops · 69 days · 26,065 km

Steven Perlman

10 islands · Dec 2007 – Feb 2008

Steven Perlman across 10 islands, December 2007 – February 2008

83 specimens · 18 stops · 53 days · 7,666 km

F. Raymond Fosberg

7 islands · 8–24 Nov 1968

F. Raymond Fosberg across 7 islands, 8–24 November 1968

77 specimens · 9 stops · 17 days · 40,884 km

Marie Catherine Neal

Kauaʻi and Babeldaob Island · 7–21 Aug 1936

Marie Catherine Neal in Kauaʻi and Babeldaob Island, 7–21 August 1936

51 specimens · 7 stops · 15 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.