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, 1932 to 1974, 611 specimens between them.
4 collectors and expeditions40 days in the field4,612 km between stops442 photographed specimens
4 journeys match



Edwin G. Burrows
4 islands · Apr – Jun 1932
Edwin G. Burrows across 4 islands, April – June 1932190 specimens · 4 stops · 44 days · 4,532 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
M.H.S. MacKee
7 islands · Oct – Nov 1968
M.H.S. MacKee across 7 islands, October – November 1968120 specimens · 11 stops · 29 days · 80 km
D.E. Yen
3 islands · Jul – Aug 1969
D.E. Yen in Futuna Island, 'Alofi Island and Molokaʻi, July – August 1969139 specimens · 2 stops · 7 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.
