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. 15 journeys so far, 1900 to 1986, 7,332 specimens between them.

8 collectors and expeditions695 days in the field382,496 km between stops2,599 photographed specimens

Edwin Horace Bryan Jr.

85 islands · Nov 1923 – Nov 1924

Edwin Horace Bryan Jr. across 85 islands, November 1923 – November 1924

2,392 specimens · 109 stops · 342 days · 30,927 km

Johnson Randall

25 islands · Mar – Dec 1968

Johnson Randall across 25 islands, March – December 1968

1,676 specimens · 99 stops · 261 days · 106,577 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 1931

435 specimens · 74 stops · 343 days · 5,041 km

Edwin Horace Bryan Jr.

6 islands of the United States · May – Sep 1923

Edwin Horace Bryan Jr. across 6 islands of the United States, May – September 1923

837 specimens · 23 stops · 122 days · 69,538 km

Johnson Randall

6 islands of Chile · Jan – Mar 1969

Johnson Randall across 6 islands of Chile, January – March 1969

503 specimens · 38 stops · 78 days · 8,647 km

Alvin Seale

3 islands · Mar – Jul 1900

Alvin Seale in Guam, Kauaʻi and Oʻahu, March – July 1900

321 specimens · 26 stops · 129 days · 12,804 km

Johnson Randall

9 islands · Jul – Oct 1967

Johnson Randall across 9 islands, July – October 1967

303 specimens · 29 stops · 95 days · 2,620 km

Johnson Randall

5 islands · Jun – Dec 1971

Johnson Randall across 5 islands, June – December 1971

221 specimens · 23 stops · 158 days · 27,137 km

Johnson Randall

8 islands · Jun – Sep 1986

Johnson Randall across 8 islands, June – September 1986

167 specimens · 23 stops · 68 days · 75,616 km

Edwin Horace Bryan Jr.

14 islands · Jul – Sep 1938

Edwin Horace Bryan Jr. across 14 islands, July – September 1938

131 specimens · 17 stops · 49 days · 11,700 km

Charles Walters

Tahiti and Oʻahu · May – Sep 1967

Charles Walters in Tahiti and Oʻahu, May – September 1967

110 specimens · 14 stops · 126 days · 8,847 km

Maxwell S. Doty

6 islands · Nov 1975 – Mar 1976

Maxwell S. Doty across 6 islands, November 1975 – March 1976

61 specimens · 13 stops · 131 days · 16,972 km

Stanley Ball

5 islands of the United States · Mar – May 1923

Stanley Ball across 5 islands of the United States, March – May 1923

72 specimens · 12 stops · 60 days · 3,896 km

Stanley Ball

Oʻahu · Oct 1925 – Feb 1926

Stanley Ball in Oʻahu, October 1925 – February 1926

43 specimens · 21 stops · 123 days

Tanager Expedition

10 islands of the United States · Apr – Jun 1923

Tanager Expedition, April – June 1923

60 specimens · 8 stops · 62 days · 2,174 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.