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. 3 journeys so far, 1934 to 1971, 1,541 specimens between them.
3 collectors and expeditions90 days in the field12,496 km between stops1,001 photographed specimens
3 journeys match



Elwood C. Zimmerman
12 islands · May – Oct 1934
Elwood C. Zimmerman across 12 islands, May – October 19341,001 specimens · 14 stops · 140 days · 5,332 km
Jim Haywood
19 islands of French Polynesia · Dec 1970 – May 1971
Jim Haywood across 19 islands of French Polynesia, December 1970 – May 1971499 specimens · 36 stops · 162 days · 4,655 km
G.S. Haywood
7 islands · Dec 1970 – Feb 1971
G.S. Haywood across 7 islands, December 1970 – February 197141 specimens · 14 stops · 81 days · 2,509 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.
