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. 11 journeys so far, 1924 to 1969, 4,056 specimens between them.

6 collectors and expeditions448 days in the field158,989 km between stops929 photographed specimens

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

4 islands · Feb – Sep 1929

Gerrit Parmele Wilder across 4 islands, February – September 1929

605 specimens · 77 stops · 205 days · 5,048 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

Gerrit Parmele Wilder

18 islands · Nov 1924 – May 1925

Gerrit Parmele Wilder across 18 islands, November 1924 – May 1925

244 specimens · 43 stops · 188 days · 15,411 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

Alastair M. Adamson

Tahiti and Moorea · Oct – Dec 1928

Alastair M. Adamson in Tahiti and Moorea, October – December 1928

203 specimens · 15 stops · 49 days · 153 km

Stanley Ball

7 islands · Nov 1924 – Jan 1925

Stanley Ball across 7 islands, November 1924 – January 1925

174 specimens · 14 stops · 43 days · 3,291 km

Gerrit Parmele Wilder

3 islands · Jul – Dec 1926

Gerrit Parmele Wilder in Moorea, Tahiti and Penrhyn Atoll, July – December 1926

77 specimens · 29 stops · 145 days · 451 km

Johnson Randall

5 islands · Feb – May 1956

Johnson Randall across 5 islands, February – May 1956

111 specimens · 14 stops · 108 days · 128 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

Dennis M. Devaney

16 islands · Sep – Oct 1967

Dennis M. Devaney across 16 islands, September – October 1967

50 specimens · 18 stops · 56 days · 7,816 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.