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. 4 journeys so far, 1970 to 1977, 781 specimens between them.
4 collectors and expeditions71 days in the field22,732 km between stops288 photographed specimens
4 journeys match
Betsy H. Gagne
11 islands · Jun – Sep 1977
Betsy H. Gagne across 11 islands, June – September 1977480 specimens · 22 stops · 84 days · 12,628 km
Patrick V. Kirch
3 islands · Jun – Jul 1974
Patrick V. Kirch in Futuna Island, Niuatoputapu Island and Nuku Hiva, June – July 1974162 specimens · 15 stops · 44 days
G.W. Gillett
4 islands · Jul – Sep 1970
G.W. Gillett across 4 islands, July – September 197094 specimens · 13 stops · 74 days · 5,743 km
.png?width=480)
Steven L. Montgomery
7 islands of French Polynesia · Jul – Sep 1977
Steven L. Montgomery across 7 islands of French Polynesia, July – September 197745 specimens · 12 stops · 71 days · 4,361 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.