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. 7 journeys so far, 1951 to 1959, 1,740 specimens between them.
5 collectors and expeditions189 days in the field104,302 km between stops776 photographed specimens
7 journeys match
F. Raymond Fosberg
21 islands · Nov 1951 – Apr 1952
F. Raymond Fosberg across 21 islands, November 1951 – April 1952672 specimens · 57 stops · 145 days · 13,644 km
Maxwell S. Doty
11 islands · Sep 1953 – Aug 1954
Maxwell S. Doty across 11 islands, September 1953 – August 1954309 specimens · 40 stops · 315 days · 78,333 km
E.Y. Dawson
Enewetak Atoll and Mauke · Aug – Sep 1955
E.Y. Dawson in Enewetak Atoll and Mauke, August – September 1955435 specimens · 10 stops · 16 days
Johnson Randall
5 islands · Feb – May 1956
Johnson Randall across 5 islands, February – May 1956111 specimens · 14 stops · 108 days · 128 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 1956102 specimens · 11 stops · 12 days · 1,332 km
Maxwell S. Doty
5 islands · Jan – May 1959
Maxwell S. Doty across 5 islands, January – May 195970 specimens · 17 stops · 110 days · 10,865 km
M. Gilmartin
Enewetak Atoll · Aug – Sep 1955
M. Gilmartin in Enewetak Atoll, August – September 195541 specimens · 6 stops · 10 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.