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. 12 journeys so far, 1969 to 1987, 2,596 specimens between them.

1 collectors and expeditions157 days in the field5,238 km between stops2,354 photographed specimens

Seymour H. Sohmer

Sri Lanka and Oʻahu · Oct – Dec 1975

Seymour H. Sohmer in Sri Lanka and Oʻahu, October – December 1975

936 specimens · 26 stops · 44 days

Seymour H. Sohmer

Sri Lanka and Pahang · Sep – Dec 1973

Seymour H. Sohmer in Sri Lanka and Pahang, September – December 1973

672 specimens · 28 stops · 94 days

Seymour H. Sohmer

5 islands of Papua New Guinea · Mar – Jun 1979

Seymour H. Sohmer across 5 islands of Papua New Guinea, March – June 1979

294 specimens · 22 stops · 106 days · 3,435 km

Seymour H. Sohmer

3 islands of the United States · May – Jul 1970

Seymour H. Sohmer in Kauaʻi, Oʻahu and Hawaiʻi Island, May – July 1970

111 specimens · 13 stops · 60 days · 1,246 km

Seymour H. Sohmer

Oʻahu and Hawaiʻi Island · Aug – Sep 1969

Seymour H. Sohmer in Oʻahu and Hawaiʻi Island, August – September 1969

75 specimens · 6 stops · 41 days

Seymour H. Sohmer

6 islands of the Philippines · Oct – Nov 1985

Seymour H. Sohmer across 6 islands of the Philippines, October – November 1985

79 specimens · 6 stops · 12 days · 286 km

Seymour H. Sohmer

3 islands of the United States · Dec 1969 – Jan 1970

Seymour H. Sohmer in Hawaiʻi Island, Maui and Oʻahu, December 1969 – January 1970

67 specimens · 8 stops · 13 days · 136 km

Seymour H. Sohmer

6 islands · 6–27 Nov 1983

Seymour H. Sohmer across 6 islands, 6–27 November 1983

68 specimens · 6 stops · 22 days

Seymour H. Sohmer

Sibuyan · 12–21 May 1987

Seymour H. Sohmer in Sibuyan, 12–21 May 1987

85 specimens · 5 stops · 10 days

Seymour H. Sohmer

Luzon and Quezon · 9–14 Feb 1985

Seymour H. Sohmer in Luzon and Quezon, 9–14 February 1985

81 specimens · 5 stops · 6 days

Seymour H. Sohmer

Maui and Oʻahu · Aug – Sep 1970

Seymour H. Sohmer in Maui and Oʻahu, August – September 1970

59 specimens · 7 stops · 21 days · 135 km

Seymour H. Sohmer

Tubuai · Jun – Jul 1971

Seymour H. Sohmer in Tubuai, June – July 1971

69 specimens · 6 stops · 23 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.