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. 14 journeys so far, 1921 to 1929, 4,724 specimens between them.
7 collectors and expeditions499 days in the field105,511 km between stops3,447 photographed specimens
14 journeys match

Laurence H. MacDaniels
12 islands · Oct 1926 – Jul 1927
Laurence H. MacDaniels across 12 islands, October 1926 – July 19272,144 specimens · 105 stops · 274 days · 40,135 km
Gerrit Parmele Wilder
4 islands · Feb – Sep 1929
Gerrit Parmele Wilder across 4 islands, February – September 1929605 specimens · 77 stops · 205 days · 5,048 km
Ernest H. Quayle
25 islands · Jun – Nov 1922
Ernest H. Quayle across 25 islands, June – November 1922642 specimens · 56 stops · 162 days · 7,539 km


Gerrit Parmele Wilder
18 islands · Nov 1924 – May 1925
Gerrit Parmele Wilder across 18 islands, November 1924 – May 1925244 specimens · 43 stops · 188 days · 15,411 km
Ernest H. Quayle
5 islands of French Polynesia · Sep – Nov 1921
Ernest H. Quayle across 5 islands of French Polynesia, September – November 1921271 specimens · 29 stops · 78 days · 4,525 km



Alastair M. Adamson
Tahiti and Moorea · Oct – Dec 1928
Alastair M. Adamson in Tahiti and Moorea, October – December 1928203 specimens · 15 stops · 49 days · 153 km



Stanley Ball
7 islands · Nov 1924 – Jan 1925
Stanley Ball across 7 islands, November 1924 – January 1925174 specimens · 14 stops · 43 days · 3,291 km

Gerrit Parmele Wilder
3 islands · Jul – Dec 1926
Gerrit Parmele Wilder in Moorea, Tahiti and Penrhyn Atoll, July – December 192677 specimens · 29 stops · 145 days · 451 km
Gerrit Parmele Wilder
5 islands · Mar – Aug 1927
Gerrit Parmele Wilder across 5 islands, March – August 192769 specimens · 28 stops · 155 days · 13,558 km

Whitney Expedition
12 islands of French Polynesia · Jun – Sep 1922
Whitney Expedition, June – September 192263 specimens · 16 stops · 86 days · 4,274 km



Alastair M. Adamson
Tahiti · Aug – Sep 1928
Alastair M. Adamson in Tahiti, August – September 192891 specimens · 6 stops · 28 days · 82 km

Gerrit Parmele Wilder
7 islands · Jun – Aug 1925
Gerrit Parmele Wilder across 7 islands, June – August 192552 specimens · 22 stops · 65 days · 10,586 km



Kenneth Pike Emory
3 islands · Sep – Nov 1925
Kenneth Pike Emory in Moorea, Tahiti and Huahine, September – November 192546 specimens · 3 stops · 38 days · 189 km



Kenneth Pike Emory
3 islands · 14–28 Apr 1925
Kenneth Pike Emory in Raiatea, Tahiti and Taha'A, 14–28 April 192543 specimens · 3 stops · 15 days · 269 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.
