Frederick Starr was an American academic, anthropologist, and "populist educator".
Background
Frederick was born on September 2, 1858 in Auburn, New York, United States, the fourth of the seven children of the Rev. Frederick Starr, a Presbyterian minister, and Helen Strachan (Mills) Starr. He was a descendant of Dr. Comfort Starr, who emigrated from Kent, England, to Boston in 1635.
Education
He spent his boyhood in the East and in 1882 graduated from Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania, where in 1885 he received the degree of Ph. D. He received a doctorate degree in geology at Lafayette College (1885).
Career
Starr was professor of biology at Coe College, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 1883-87, and registrar and professor of geography at Chautauqua University, Chautauqua, New York, 1888-89. From 1889 to 1891 he was engaged in arranging, labelling, and classifying the collections in the department of ethnology in the American Museum of Natural History, New York.
In 1891 he became professor of geology and anthropology, and dean of the science department in Pomona College, Claremont, California, but in the following year he was called to organize the work of anthropology at the newly established University of Chicago, under William Rainey Harper, where in 1895 he became associate professor.
During his thirty-one years there he was probably the most popular instructor in the university. Though his classes were crowded and he was the only instructor in his subject, he refused to add others, remaining, as he said, "the Lone Star. "
When he retired from the university in 1923 his former students presented him with a large purse, which enabled him to purchase a house in Seattle, Washington, a location convenient for his frequent trips to Japan.
Throughout his career he traveled widely for the sake of making anthropological studies. In preparation for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition at St. Louis, Missouri, in 1904, he visited northern Japan and brought back with him a representative group of Ainu; he also visited various parts of the United States and Mexico, the Philippines, Korea, and Africa, returning several times to the last two.
During these visits he lived the life of the people, and in Japan, at least, he wore native dress. Keenly interested in the intimate life of those he met, he was always inclined to take the part of minority or unpopular groups. While the world was condemning the African policy of King Leopold II, he visited the Congo and came forward with a vigorous defense of Belgian rule; while "imperialism" was at its height in America he advocated Philippine independence.
In 1923 he went through the earthquake that devastated Tokio and claimed many of his closest friends. Ten years later he died of bronchial pneumonia in the same city.
Personality
He had numerous personal idiosyncrasies. He refused to wear an overcoat, never used a telephone, and usually walked about the campus with an open book in his hands, while his apartment was a labyrinth of books stacked on the floors of various rooms. His frankness and fearlessness in the expression of opinion often made him enemies; on the other hand, his informality and camaraderie in the classroom created a loyalty seldom met with between students and professor.