Tuesday, August 22, 2017 - 8:00am
By Megan Maxwell, Curator, Starr Family Home State Historic Site
Frank and Clara Starr raised six girls in Maplecroft. It’s no wonder, then, that the Starr Family Home State Historic Site has a large collection of hand-made doll clothing. Most of it is in a Victorian style dating to the late 19th and early 20th centuries, depicting the distinctive Victorian puffy-sleeved shirts and...
Thursday, March 16, 2017 - 8:00am
By Megan Maxwell and Barbara Judkins, Starr Family Home
Since the mid-1800s, cotton has been a major cornerstone in the southern economy. By the 1860s, southern plantations produced two-thirds of the world’s cotton supply. Crucial to the industry were the cotton brokers, or factors as they were often called. They provided a link between the plantations and the textile mills located in...
Thursday, September 8, 2016 - 8:00am
By Barbara Judkins and Megan Maxwell, site manager and curator at Starr Family Home State Historic Site
Ruth Starr Blake, the second youngest daughter of Frank and Clara Clapp Starr, grew up in Maplecroft, the centerpiece of the Starr Family Home State Historic Site. She was married to Arthur Blake in 1904, and by all accounts the marriage was a good match. The couple lived cozily in a...
Friday, August 5, 2016 - 8:00am
By Barbara Judkins, Site Manager, Starr Family Home State Historic Site
The Starr Family Home’s newest exhibit, Four Generations of Finery, showcases examples of the family’s exquisite home furnishings, art glass, and collections of ceramics and silver. From the time Maplecroft, the home of Frank and Clara Starr, was completed in 1871 until the property was donated to the state in 1985...
Tuesday, April 7, 2015 - 8:00am
By Megan Maxwell and Barbara Judkins, Starr Family Home
The Starr Family Home State Historic Site in Marshall was recently awarded the Lucille Terry Preservation Award by the East Texas Historical Association (ETHA) and the Texas Forestry Museum. The award—given for the site’s preservation work on Maplecroft, the 1871 home of the James Franklin Starr family—is named for Mrs. Lucille...
Thursday, March 5, 2015 - 8:00am
By Barbara Judkins, Starr Family Home Site Manager
A restored portrait of George Clapp once more graces the parlor walls of Maplecroft, the 1871 home of Frank and Clara Starr. Clapp’s portrait is one of 12 portraits in Starr Family Home State Historic Site’s collection, which depicts the first three generations of the Starr family and dates from the mid-19th century. It is the second...
Thursday, January 15, 2015 - 8:00am
By Barbara Judkins, Starr Family Home Site Manager
Maplecroft, the 1871 main house at Starr Family Home State Historic Site, will undergo the final stage of interior restoration beginning in 2015. Preservation work on the entire exterior of the house was completed in 2011, and interior finishes of the family’s rooms were also restored. Now, focus will be directed to the back of house—...
Wednesday, June 18, 2014 - 7:31am
By Hal Simon, THC Historic Sites Interpretive Specialist
One of the strengths of many collections held by the Texas Historical Commission’s (THC) historic sites is the number of site-specific artifacts each has to exhibit. These artifacts help tell the real stories of the people who owned and lived in each property. Through ongoing research, we can often document items in the...
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