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. 5 journeys so far, 1957 to 1981, 460 specimens between them.
5 collectors and expeditions115 days in the field44,740 km between stops216 photographed specimens
5 journeys match



Judson Linsley Gressitt
6 islands · Aug – Dec 1957
Judson Linsley Gressitt across 6 islands, August – December 1957131 specimens · 30 stops · 113 days · 9,370 km
J. Raynal
9 islands · Jun – Oct 1971
J. Raynal across 9 islands, June – October 1971106 specimens · 42 stops · 103 days · 21,113 km
D. Mueller-Dombois
12 islands · Oct – Dec 1981
D. Mueller-Dombois across 12 islands, October – December 1981139 specimens · 18 stops · 53 days · 3,711 km
Isabelle Abbott
Maui and Espiritu Santo · Aug – Sep 1971
Isabelle Abbott in Maui and Espiritu Santo, August – September 197142 specimens · 6 stops · 45 days · 5,752 km
Donald P. Abbott
Maui and Espiritu Santo · 7–25 Sep 1971
Donald P. Abbott in Maui and Espiritu Santo, 7–25 September 197142 specimens · 4 stops · 19 days · 4,794 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.
