Frederick Starr

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 StarrΓÇÖs 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 StarrΓÇÖs colorful life in the context of the times. In many respects StarrΓÇÖs early career paralleled that of Franz Boas, ΓÇ£the architect of American anthropology.ΓÇ¥ 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 StarrΓÇÖs mission to bring anthropology to the public and enlighten them was as valid a goal during his career as was BoasΓÇÖs goal to professionalize the field.