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. 9 journeys so far, 1934 to 1991, 14,382 specimens between them.

9 collectors and expeditions448 days in the field67,163 km between stops12,750 photographed specimens

Donald Anderson

34 islands · Apr – Oct 1934

Donald Anderson across 34 islands, April – October 1934

8,872 specimens · 35 stops · 202 days · 16,221 km

F. Raymond Fosberg

32 islands · Apr – Oct 1934

F. Raymond Fosberg across 32 islands, April – October 1934

2,503 specimens · 85 stops · 201 days · 23,387 km

Elwood Curtin Zimmerman

21 islands · Feb – Oct 1934

Elwood Curtin Zimmerman across 21 islands, February – October 1934

1,714 specimens · 56 stops · 248 days · 12,587 km

Samuel Wight

16 islands of French Polynesia · May – Oct 1934

Samuel Wight across 16 islands of French Polynesia, May – October 1934

733 specimens · 24 stops · 156 days · 7,021 km

Jacques Florence

4 islands · Apr – Jul 1991

Jacques Florence across 4 islands, April – July 1991

294 specimens · 7 stops · 85 days · 5,985 km

S. Waldren

3 islands of the Pitcairn Islands · May – Jul 1991

S. Waldren in Henderson Island, Oeno Island and Pitcairn Island, May – July 1991

105 specimens · 4 stops · 72 days · 697 km

A.J. Chepstov-Lusty

3 islands of the Pitcairn Islands · Apr – Jul 1991

A.J. Chepstov-Lusty in Henderson Island, Oeno Island and Pitcairn Island, April – July 1991

79 specimens · 4 stops · 75 days · 695 km

T. Spencer

3 islands of the Pitcairn Islands · 12–28 May 1987

T. Spencer in Henderson Island, Oeno Island and Pitcairn Island, 12–28 May 1987

41 specimens · 4 stops · 17 days · 285 km

Gustav Paulay

3 islands of the Pitcairn Islands · 12–28 May 1987

Gustav Paulay in Henderson Island, Oeno Island and Pitcairn Island, 12–28 May 1987

41 specimens · 4 stops · 17 days · 285 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.