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. 90 journeys so far, 1900 to 2004, 65,732 specimens between them.
56 collectors and expeditions3,009 days in the field819,222 km between stops49,841 photographed specimens
90 journeys match
Robert H. Snider
14 islands · Sep 1964 – Jan 1965
Robert H. Snider across 14 islands, September 1964 – January 1965519 specimens · 28 stops · 139 days · 19,940 km
Benjamin C. Stone
22 islands · Feb – Aug 1957
Benjamin C. Stone across 22 islands, February – August 1957301 specimens · 47 stops · 169 days · 33,594 km


Gerrit Parmele Wilder
18 islands · Nov 1924 – May 1925
Gerrit Parmele Wilder across 18 islands, November 1924 – May 1925244 specimens · 43 stops · 188 days · 15,411 km
W.R. Sykes
5 islands · Apr – Jul 1992
W.R. Sykes across 5 islands, April – July 1992414 specimens · 16 stops · 75 days · 4,191 km
Ernest H. Quayle
5 islands of French Polynesia · Sep – Nov 1921
Ernest H. Quayle across 5 islands of French Polynesia, September – November 1921271 specimens · 29 stops · 78 days · 4,525 km
F. Raymond Fosberg
6 islands · Jun – Aug 1981
F. Raymond Fosberg across 6 islands, June – August 1981350 specimens · 25 stops · 47 days · 39,992 km
Rhett M. McNair
15 islands of French Polynesia · Dec 1970 – May 1971
Rhett M. McNair across 15 islands of French Polynesia, December 1970 – May 1971421 specimens · 26 stops · 153 days · 4,423 km
M.-H Sachet
8 islands of French Polynesia · Nov 1974 – Feb 1975
M.-H Sachet across 8 islands of French Polynesia, November 1974 – February 1975286 specimens · 34 stops · 108 days · 4,737 km
W. Teraoka
4 islands · Apr 1979 – Mar 1980
W. Teraoka across 4 islands, April 1979 – March 1980183 specimens · 58 stops · 348 days · 23,334 km
M.-H Sachet
6 islands · Jul – Nov 1963
M.-H Sachet across 6 islands, July – November 1963308 specimens · 22 stops · 118 days · 9,873 km

Gerrit Parmele Wilder
3 islands of French Polynesia · Aug – Dec 1932
Gerrit Parmele Wilder in Makatea, Tahiti and Moorea, August – December 1932218 specimens · 23 stops · 120 days · 1,308 km
Hugh Shaw MacKee
9 islands · Jul – Sep 1955
Hugh Shaw MacKee across 9 islands, July – September 1955222 specimens · 28 stops · 64 days · 5,455 km
Johnson Randall
9 islands · Jul – Oct 1967
Johnson Randall across 9 islands, July – October 1967303 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 1928203 specimens · 15 stops · 49 days · 153 km
B.G. Decker
8 islands · Sep – Nov 1974
B.G. Decker across 8 islands, September – November 1974227 specimens · 24 stops · 63 days · 5,150 km
Steven L. Montgomery
9 islands of French Polynesia · Jul – Oct 1988
Steven L. Montgomery across 9 islands of French Polynesia, July – October 1988277 specimens · 18 stops · 73 days · 10,669 km
Betsy H. Gagne
7 islands of French Polynesia · Jul – Sep 1988
Betsy H. Gagne across 7 islands of French Polynesia, July – September 1988267 specimens · 15 stops · 68 days · 10,816 km
Gerald R. Allen
5 islands · Jan – May 1969
Gerald R. Allen across 5 islands, January – May 1969248 specimens · 25 stops · 109 days · 10,864 km
H.O. Whittier
3 islands of French Polynesia · Sep – Nov 1964
H.O. Whittier in Tahiti, Moorea and Taiarapu, September – November 1964131 specimens · 23 stops · 75 days · 43 km
Benjamin C. Stone
5 islands · Jul – Sep 1981
Benjamin C. Stone across 5 islands, July – September 1981220 specimens · 21 stops · 49 days · 9,878 km
Jan Newhouse
6 islands · Dec 1968 – Feb 1969
Jan Newhouse across 6 islands, December 1968 – February 1969162 specimens · 13 stops · 62 days · 4,798 km



Stanley Ball
7 islands · Nov 1924 – Jan 1925
Stanley Ball across 7 islands, November 1924 – January 1925174 specimens · 14 stops · 43 days · 3,291 km



Charles Montague Cooke Jr. 7 Others
3 islands · Sep – Oct 1934
Charles Montague Cooke Jr. 7 Others in Raiatea, Moorea and Tahiti, September – October 1934311 specimens · 3 stops · 18 days · 225 km
Jan Newhouse
3 islands of French Polynesia · 2–24 Aug 1967
Jan Newhouse in Tahiti, Bora Bora and Moorea, 2–24 August 1967139 specimens · 18 stops · 23 days · 941 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.
