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. 12 journeys so far, 1981 to 1988, 2,513 specimens between them.

9 collectors and expeditions238 days in the field118,678 km between stops656 photographed specimens

F. Raymond Fosberg

6 islands · May – Jul 1982

F. Raymond Fosberg across 6 islands, May – July 1982

691 specimens · 46 stops · 88 days · 10,015 km

F. Raymond Fosberg

6 islands · Jun – Aug 1981

F. Raymond Fosberg across 6 islands, June – August 1981

350 specimens · 25 stops · 47 days · 39,992 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

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

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

F. Raymond Fosberg

3 islands of French Polynesia · Aug – Sep 1985

F. Raymond Fosberg in Maupiti Island, Tahiti and Maupiti, August – September 1985

158 specimens · 22 stops · 27 days

M.-H Sachet

5 islands of French Polynesia · Jun – Jul 1982

M.-H Sachet across 5 islands of French Polynesia, June – July 1982

169 specimens · 12 stops · 28 days · 297 km

P.H. Birnbaum

4 islands of French Polynesia · Sep – Nov 1988

P.H. Birnbaum across 4 islands of French Polynesia, September – November 1988

110 specimens · 13 stops · 79 days · 698 km

F. Raymond Fosberg

7 islands · May – Jun 1985

F. Raymond Fosberg across 7 islands, May – June 1985

65 specimens · 10 stops · 35 days · 36,228 km

Johnson Randall

Easter Island and Tahiti · Jan – Feb 1986

Johnson Randall in Easter Island and Tahiti, January – February 1986

90 specimens · 12 stops · 21 days

J.C. Jolinon

4 islands of French Polynesia · Jan – Feb 1987

J.C. Jolinon across 4 islands of French Polynesia, January – February 1987

49 specimens · 15 stops · 53 days · 85 km

John L. Earle

Easter Island and Tahiti · Jan – Feb 1986

John L. Earle in Easter Island and Tahiti, January – February 1986

67 specimens · 6 stops · 14 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.