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Frederick Starr was born in 1858 in Auburn, New York. He studied geology at the University of Rochester and earned his doctorate at the Lafayette College in Pennsylvania in 1885. Starr was a biology professor in Cedar Rapids, Iowa at Coe College. He became an Associate professor of anthropology at the University of Chicago from 1892-1923. He was a popular professor and lecturer that traveled extensively to study the physical characteristics and cultures of Latin America, Mexico, Japan, Korea, Philippines, Africa, and the Native American Indians.

In 1893, Starr was commissioned to collect data and artifacts from the Eastern Cherokee of North Carolina and presented them at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. He studied numerous North American Indian tribes, including the Seneca and the Iroquois. In January of 1904, Starr traveled to Northern Japan and studied the Ainu and later presented his findings at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis. His assistant Manuel Gonzales traveled with him.

Between the years of 1893 and 1911, Frederick Starr traveled and did extensive research in Mexico. He studied the indiginous tribes of Mexico, including Otomi, Tarascan, Aztec, and Tlaxcala. He focused on their beliefs and culture, as well as physical characteristics and conducted measurements of different people. Starr was criticized for using unethical methods in his work in Mexico. His fieldwork also includes the Philippines and several countries of Africa; the Congo and Liberia.

He retired from teaching in 1923 and moved to Seattle. Frederick Starr remained an active traveler and lecturer and took numerous trips to both Japan and Korea. In 1923, Frederick Starr survived the Great Kantō earthquake that took place in Japan. A monument was erected to him at the base of Fujiyama. He passed away in Japan in 1933.