Frederick Starr: Popularizer of Anthropology, Public Intellectual, and Genuine Eccentric

by Donald McVicker

This definitive, detail-packed biography is the first of Frederick Starr (1856-1933), a founding father of American anthropology at the University of Chicago. It presents a major reevaluation of Starr’s place as the missionizer of anthropology, illuminates the consequences of the professionalization of anthropology, and yields a greater understanding of the United States as it moved into a position of global power. Donald McVicker considers Frederick Starr’s colorful life in the context of the times. In many respects Starr’s early career paralleled that of Franz Boas, “the architect of American anthropology.” Nonetheless, as Boas led professional anthropology into the twentieth century in the United States, Starr, the popularizer, increasingly fell behind. Today, if Starr is remembered at all, he is usually described in terms of his intellectual, professional, and ethical failings. Yet his collections, publications, and photographic and paper archives provide a rich set of resources for archaeologists, ethnologists, folklorists, and historians. McVicker argues that Starr’s mission to bring anthropology to the public and enlighten them was as valid a goal during his career as was Boas’s goal

450 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2012

Reviews

[University of Chicago Magazine]

Donald McVicker, AB'55, AM'62, PHD'69
Author

From our pages (Mar–Apr/13): University of Chicago professor of anthropology Frederick Starr (1856–1933) is today remembered less for his work than for his international celebrity, unconventional behavior, and provocative, sometimes outlandish, statements. In this biography, Donald McVicker considers Starr's career in the context of the times, arguing that his mission to bring anthropology to the public was as valid and significant as the work of contemporaries like Franz Boas to professionalize it.

From the author: "Frederick Starr was the first (and only) anthroplogist at the University of Chicago from 1892 to his retirement in 1923. He defined himself as the great popularizer of anthropology and stood in contrast to Franz Boas, the great professionalizer. Starr's field work in Mexico, Africa, Southeast Asia, Japan and Korea gained him an international reputation and if there was a controversial issue who would take a provocative stance. Although Starr's reputation has faded his remakable collection of ethnogrrapic and archaeological materials remain of inestimable value."