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. 20 journeys so far, 1944 to 1988, 8,238 specimens between them.
12 collectors and expeditions634 days in the field442,878 km between stops2,736 photographed specimens
20 journeys match
F. Raymond Fosberg
56 islands · Apr – Nov 1946
F. Raymond Fosberg across 56 islands, April – November 19462,439 specimens · 102 stops · 209 days · 105,682 km

Johnson Randall
25 islands · Mar – Dec 1968
Johnson Randall across 25 islands, March – December 19681,676 specimens · 99 stops · 261 days · 106,577 km


Edward Yataro Hosaka
31 islands · Apr – Aug 1946
Edward Yataro Hosaka across 31 islands, April – August 1946872 specimens · 51 stops · 110 days · 43,680 km
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
Wm. R. Taylor
6 islands · Feb – Aug 1946
Wm. R. Taylor across 6 islands, February – August 1946242 specimens · 52 stops · 156 days · 5,901 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
Derral R. Herbst
5 islands · Feb – Apr 1988
Derral R. Herbst across 5 islands, February – April 1988201 specimens · 16 stops · 49 days · 7,903 km
Harold St.John
11 islands · Jul – Aug 1949
Harold St.John across 11 islands, July – August 1949180 specimens · 15 stops · 30 days · 6,890 km
Derral R. Herbst
10 islands · 1–25 Sep 1988
Derral R. Herbst across 10 islands, 1–25 September 1988174 specimens · 13 stops · 25 days
Johnson Randall
3 islands of the United States · Oct – Dec 1967
Johnson Randall in Enewetak Atoll, Oʻahu and Tahiti, October – December 1967238 specimens · 14 stops · 40 days · 20,674 km
Edwin Horace Bryan Jr.
5 islands of the Marshall Islands · Jul – Aug 1944
Edwin Horace Bryan Jr. across 5 islands of the Marshall Islands, July – August 194496 specimens · 21 stops · 32 days · 35,937 km
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
Harold St.John
3 islands · Mar – Apr 1949
Harold St.John in Niʻihau, Nihoa and Enewetak Atoll, March – April 1949101 specimens · 4 stops · 14 days · 4,437 km
Lewis W. Bell
Enewetak Atoll and Kwajalein Atoll · Sep – Oct 1982
Lewis W. Bell in Enewetak Atoll and Kwajalein Atoll, September – October 1982166 specimens · 4 stops · 15 days · 895 km
Edwin Horace Bryan Jr.
4 islands · Feb – Mar 1975
Edwin Horace Bryan Jr. across 4 islands, February – March 197565 specimens · 7 stops · 18 days
Mary Ann Lee
3 islands · 12–18 Feb 1975
Mary Ann Lee in Enewetak Atoll, Enewetok Atoll and Eniwetok Atoll, 12–18 February 197548 specimens · 6 stops · 7 days
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.
