"Anthropology at Chicago" by George W. Stocking, Jr.

Case 6: The Lone Starr Trail

Anthropology did well enough in its early years in what was soon called the Department of Sociology and Anthropology. Given the evolutionary orientation which still prevailed in sociology, anthropology had indeed a certain priority, insofar as it provided a comparative developmental framework for the study of Western social forms. The early announcements still looked forward to the quick establishment of an independent department, and Starr even undertook a series of Bulletins of the University of Chicago Department of Anthropology - though he was the only author represented. For a time, Small apparently forwarded Starr's undertakings with President Harper. The fellowship granted in 1897 to David P. Barrows (whom Starr had previously taught at Pomona, and who was later to be President of the University of California), produced the first Chicago Ph.D. in anthropology. It was followed in short order by a second doctorate for Merton Miller, who also served briefly on the department's staff, covering Starr's courses during one of his many absences in the field.

By 1900, however, the fortunes of anthropology had fallen as those of sociology rose. The joint department grew along lines which either led away from or competed with Starr's interests. By 1904 William I. Thomas (whom Starr himself described as in effect an anthropologist) wrote to Harper proposing a reorganization of anthropopological work. Later on, Small apparently toyed with the idea of getting Boas from Columbia as Head Professor - although Harper had long since rejected Boas because he did not "take instruction well." Although Harper seems to have stood by his chosen anthropologist, he was sometimes sorely tried. In 1897, he berated Starr for having had a brochure describing the Department of Anthropology published by a press back in Davenport, Iowa; in 1904, he suggested that Starr's newspaper notoriety was helping neither his own nor the University's reputation.

By 1910 it was clear even to Stan that his hopes to establish a graduate department of anthropology had been frustrated. When Boas wrote in connection with an American Anthropological Association survey of university programs in the discipline, Starranswering from Tokyo - explained that his work was by now primarily oriented toward undergraduate instruction. Increasingly, Starr found solace in external activities such as his debates with Clarence Darrow, or in his great popularity as an undemanding undergraduate lecturer. When the "Lone Starr" retired in 1923 some of his students raised enough money to buy him a home in Seattle, from which he could easily continue his travels to the Far East.

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