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, 1957 to 1995, 2,007 specimens between them.

12 collectors and expeditions348 days in the field46,459 km between stops1,597 photographed specimens

Benjamin C. Stone

20 islands · Sep 1957 – Feb 1958

Benjamin C. Stone across 20 islands, September 1957 – February 1958

507 specimens · 64 stops · 154 days · 21,480 km

Yoshio KondoKay Kondo

4 islands · Aug – Sep 1966

Yoshio KondoKay Kondo across 4 islands, August – September 1966

345 specimens · 19 stops · 39 days · 2,425 km

George F. Arnemann

4 islands · Aug – Sep 1966

George F. Arnemann across 4 islands, August – September 1966

345 specimens · 19 stops · 39 days · 2,425 km

D. Lepofsky

7 islands of Papua New Guinea · Sep – Dec 1988

D. Lepofsky across 7 islands of Papua New Guinea, September – December 1988

168 specimens · 32 stops · 78 days

J.R. Croft

3 islands of Papua New Guinea · Aug – Oct 1974

J.R. Croft in Lavongai, New Ireland and Fergusson Island, August – October 1974

152 specimens · 14 stops · 60 days · 4,346 km

M.J.S. Sands

6 islands of Papua New Guinea · Sep – Dec 1975

M.J.S. Sands across 6 islands of Papua New Guinea, September – December 1975

102 specimens · 11 stops · 71 days · 3,193 km

George Pattison

6 islands of Papua New Guinea · Sep – Dec 1975

George Pattison across 6 islands of Papua New Guinea, September – December 1975

68 specimens · 13 stops · 71 days · 5,279 km

J.J. Wood

6 islands of Papua New Guinea · Sep – Dec 1975

J.J. Wood across 6 islands of Papua New Guinea, September – December 1975

67 specimens · 13 stops · 71 days · 5,279 km

Y. Lelean

Lavongai and New Ireland · Sep – Oct 1974

Y. Lelean in Lavongai and New Ireland, September – October 1974

104 specimens · 4 stops · 46 days · 315 km

M.J.E. Coode

New Ireland and Lavongai · Jan – Feb 1967

M.J.E. Coode in New Ireland and Lavongai, January – February 1967

63 specimens · 6 stops · 26 days · 472 km

O.G. Gideon

New Ireland and Lihir Island · Oct – Nov 1984

O.G. Gideon in New Ireland and Lihir Island, October – November 1984

43 specimens · 5 stops · 27 days · 388 km

J.C. Regalado Jr.

New Guinea and New Ireland · 1–16 Aug 1995

J.C. Regalado Jr. in New Guinea and New Ireland, 1–16 August 1995

43 specimens · 3 stops · 16 days · 857 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.