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. 342 journeys so far, 1879 to 2025, 69,351 specimens between them.

156 collectors and expeditions6,884 days in the field831,051 km between stops51,513 photographed specimens

Wayne N. Takeuchi

3 islands of the United States · Jul – Oct 1983

Wayne N. Takeuchi in Kauaʻi, Oʻahu and Maui, July – October 1983

183 specimens · 17 stops · 71 days · 1,520 km

R.L. Wilbur

3 islands of the United States · May – Jul 1948

R.L. Wilbur in Maui, Hawaiʻi Island and Oʻahu, May – July 1948

191 specimens · 17 stops · 44 days · 594 km

Joseph F. Rock

3 islands of the United States · Apr – Jun 1918

Joseph F. Rock in Molokaʻi, Oʻahu and Maui, April – June 1918

200 specimens · 14 stops · 62 days · 167 km

H.A. Miller

4 islands of the United States · May – Jun 1953

H.A. Miller across 4 islands of the United States, May – June 1953

191 specimens · 24 stops · 33 days · 441 km

Otto Degener

4 islands · Dec 1949 – May 1950

Otto Degener across 4 islands, December 1949 – May 1950

142 specimens · 27 stops · 159 days · 1,031 km

Alvin K. Chock

3 islands of the United States · Dec 1951 – Mar 1952

Alvin K. Chock in Maui, Kauaʻi and Oʻahu, December 1951 – March 1952

166 specimens · 19 stops · 99 days · 1,160 km

Steven Perlman

7 islands · Jan – Apr 2009

Steven Perlman across 7 islands, January – April 2009

157 specimens · 25 stops · 94 days · 15,389 km

Otto Degener

Oʻahu and Maui · May – Sep 1935

Otto Degener in Oʻahu and Maui, May – September 1935

146 specimens · 27 stops · 112 days · 990 km

Edwin Horace Bryan Jr.

Oʻahu and Maui · Sep 1919 – Jan 1920

Edwin Horace Bryan Jr. in Oʻahu and Maui, September 1919 – January 1920

201 specimens · 28 stops · 133 days · 556 km

H.A. Pilsbry

4 islands of the United States · Jan – Mar 1913

H.A. Pilsbry across 4 islands of the United States, January – March 1913

189 specimens · 13 stops · 56 days · 1,191 km

Otto Degener

4 islands · Jun – Dec 1922

Otto Degener across 4 islands, June – December 1922

113 specimens · 48 stops · 194 days · 3,540 km

G.S. Mizuno

Maui · Jun – Aug 1976

G.S. Mizuno in Maui, June – August 1976

214 specimens · 9 stops · 68 days · 130 km

Otto Degener

4 islands of the United States · Jun – Jul 1961

Otto Degener across 4 islands of the United States, June – July 1961

153 specimens · 22 stops · 54 days · 560 km

Henry Wiebke

Maui and Oʻahu · Jun – Aug 1927

Henry Wiebke in Maui and Oʻahu, June – August 1927

127 specimens · 34 stops · 79 days · 304 km

Derral R. Herbst

4 islands of the United States · Jun – Aug 1970

Derral R. Herbst across 4 islands of the United States, June – August 1970

140 specimens · 25 stops · 72 days · 674 km

C.T. Imada

3 islands of the United States · 3–14 Mar 1988

C.T. Imada in Maui, Hawaiʻi Island and Kauaʻi, 3–14 March 1988

221 specimens · 12 stops · 12 days · 211 km

Isa Degener

4 islands of the United States · Jun – Jul 1961

Isa Degener across 4 islands of the United States, June – July 1961

147 specimens · 22 stops · 54 days · 560 km

Kenneth R. Wood

9 islands · Jun – Nov 1997

Kenneth R. Wood across 9 islands, June – November 1997

164 specimens · 33 stops · 139 days · 49,817 km

W.J. Gilbert

5 islands of the United States · Feb – Jun 1959

W.J. Gilbert across 5 islands of the United States, February – June 1959

116 specimens · 37 stops · 105 days · 3,345 km

C.F. Puttock

4 islands of the United States · May – Jun 2000

C.F. Puttock across 4 islands of the United States, May – June 2000

361 specimens · 8 stops · 30 days · 843 km

T. Matsui

5 islands of the United States · Feb – Sep 1959

T. Matsui across 5 islands of the United States, February – September 1959

149 specimens · 23 stops · 206 days · 3,203 km

Jr.William Ellsworth Fisher Jr.

4 islands of the United States · May – Jun 2000

Jr.William Ellsworth Fisher Jr. across 4 islands of the United States, May – June 2000

357 specimens · 8 stops · 30 days · 843 km

Philip Hunter Timberlake

Maui and Hawaiʻi Island · Jul – Aug 1919

Philip Hunter Timberlake in Maui and Hawaiʻi Island, July – August 1919

229 specimens · 22 stops · 51 days · 448 km

Edward Yataro Hosaka

Hawaiʻi Island and Maui · May – Jun 1938

Edward Yataro Hosaka in Hawaiʻi Island and Maui, May – June 1938

174 specimens · 15 stops · 26 days · 58 km

How a journey is found

Every specimen with a full date (year, month and day; a bare “1 January” is treated as a missing day) and a named collector is a diary entry. For each collector the days are read in order, each day given the place most of its labels name. The place where a collector spent more than forty percent of their days, and at least sixty of them, is home: days there are left out.

A gap of more than 21 days between collecting days ends one journey and begins the next. A journey must run five to four hundred days, hold at least forty specimens and touch at least two places. Within it, consecutive days inside the same or a neighbouring tenth-of-a-degree cell (about eleven kilometres) are one stop; the stop’s point is the mean of its labels’ coordinates, or the island’s centre when none carry any.

Companions are collectors whose own labels put them in the same cell on the same days. Staff can name a journey, write about it, feature it or hide it; those words survive every rebuild. Everything else is read off the specimens and rebuilt by harvest.mjs expeditions as the records improve.