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. 6 journeys so far, 1922 to 1934, 27,010 specimens between them.
6 collectors and expeditions403 days in the field58,613 km between stops25,764 photographed specimens
6 journeys match



Mangarevan Expedition
29 islands · May – Nov 1934
Mangarevan Expedition, May – November 193415,215 specimens · 33 stops · 173 days · 12,849 km



Donald Anderson
34 islands · Apr – Oct 1934
Donald Anderson across 34 islands, April – October 19348,872 specimens · 35 stops · 202 days · 16,221 km
F. Raymond Fosberg
32 islands · Apr – Oct 1934
F. Raymond Fosberg across 32 islands, April – October 19342,503 specimens · 85 stops · 201 days · 23,387 km
Whitney Expedition
27 islands of French Polynesia · Feb – Jul 1923
Whitney Expedition, February – July 1923157 specimens · 34 stops · 154 days · 1,174 km



MacDonald
5 islands · May – Jun 1934
MacDonald across 5 islands, May – June 1934151 specimens · 5 stops · 26 days · 1,342 km
Ernest H. Quayle
14 islands · Apr – May 1922
Ernest H. Quayle across 14 islands, April – May 1922112 specimens · 12 stops · 40 days · 3,640 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.
