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. 11 journeys so far, 1924 to 1982, 7,513 specimens between them.
8 collectors and expeditions424 days in the field112,948 km between stops5,934 photographed specimens
11 journeys match



Clarence H. Cooke Jr.
26 islands · Apr – Oct 1934
Clarence H. Cooke Jr. across 26 islands, April – October 19343,369 specimens · 39 stops · 184 days · 14,736 km
F. Raymond Fosberg
32 islands · Apr – Oct 1934
F. Raymond Fosberg across 32 islands, April – October 19342,503 specimens · 85 stops · 201 days · 23,387 km
C.R. Long
29 islands · Aug – Nov 1964
C.R. Long across 29 islands, August – November 1964467 specimens · 49 stops · 103 days · 19,051 km
C.R. Long
24 islands · Apr – Jul 1964
C.R. Long across 24 islands, April – July 1964264 specimens · 39 stops · 91 days · 15,404 km


Gerrit Parmele Wilder
18 islands · Nov 1924 – May 1925
Gerrit Parmele Wilder across 18 islands, November 1924 – May 1925244 specimens · 43 stops · 188 days · 15,411 km
C.R. Long
9 islands · Jun – Jul 1965
C.R. Long across 9 islands, June – July 1965244 specimens · 17 stops · 33 days · 2,563 km
L. Wester
4 islands of Kiribati · 1–29 Aug 1982
L. Wester across 4 islands of Kiribati, 1–29 August 1982118 specimens · 14 stops · 29 days

Erling Christophersen
8 islands · Jun – Sep 1924
Erling Christophersen across 8 islands, June – September 192481 specimens · 18 stops · 111 days · 15,205 km
W.J. Gilbert
6 islands · Jun – Aug 1963
W.J. Gilbert across 6 islands, June – August 196369 specimens · 15 stops · 62 days · 5,418 km
H.F. Bergman
5 islands · Jul – Aug 1924
H.F. Bergman across 5 islands, July – August 1924110 specimens · 11 stops · 39 days · 1,637 km
F. Raymond Fosberg
8 islands · 14–31 Mar 1975
F. Raymond Fosberg across 8 islands, 14–31 March 197544 specimens · 8 stops · 18 days · 136 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.
