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. 6 journeys so far, 1923 to 1962, 1,865 specimens between them.
6 collectors and expeditions138 days in the field21,749 km between stops1,276 photographed specimens
6 journeys match



Ditlev Due Thaanum
10 islands of the United States · May – Aug 1923
Ditlev Due Thaanum across 10 islands of the United States, May – August 1923918 specimens · 15 stops · 96 days · 11,766 km
Gerrit Parmele Wilder
3 islands of the United States · Jul 1930 – Jun 1931
Gerrit Parmele Wilder in Oʻahu, Laysan and Molokaʻi, July 1930 – June 1931435 specimens · 74 stops · 343 days · 5,041 km
David Timmins Fullaway
Laysan · 1–27 Apr 1923
David Timmins Fullaway in Laysan, 1–27 April 1923142 specimens · 6 stops · 27 days
John W. Beardsley
Laysan and Nihoa · Jun – Jul 1962
John W. Beardsley in Laysan and Nihoa, June – July 1962105 specimens · 6 stops · 31 days · 1,046 km
Stanley Ball
5 islands of the United States · Mar – May 1923
Stanley Ball across 5 islands of the United States, March – May 192372 specimens · 12 stops · 60 days · 3,896 km

George Butler
Laysan · 20–24 Jul 1959
George Butler in Laysan, 20–24 July 1959193 specimens · 2 stops · 5 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.
