Stark Family Association records

Series 1. Correspondence, 1905-1985, almost exclusively contains letters addressed to secretaries May Stark Strong and Jennie E. Stark. They concern the payment of annual dues, orders for copies of The Aaron Stark Family compiled by Charles R. Stark, genealogical data, requests for information, and news about members for inclusion in the annual publication of the Association. The most eminent member was Admiral Harold R. Stark (1880-1972), Chief of Naval Operations at the time of Pearl Harbor and the collection contains one letter from him on June 10, 1953. The records also include correspondence on the letterheads of Starks & Company Manufacturing Chemists of Midway, Kentucky, The Babcock Company of Kasota, Minnesota, and Stark Brothers Nurseries & Orchards Co. of Louisiana, Missouri.

Series 2. Family Papers, 1868-1953, includes an unidentified notebook (folder 8) from 1868-69 that contains an inventory of household furniture, a partial genealogy of the family of Benjamin Stark (1783-1846), and some 1869 accounts of John H. Daley and Richard R. Stark on board The Great Republic and other vessels in 1869; two folders of unidentified photographs, one folder of questionnaires seeking information to update the family genealogy together with an undated cover letter (folder 11); three folders of information on members of the Association; and a folder containing a small package of Starks' Headache Powders (folder 18)

Series 3. Business Records, 1895-1954, holds reports of meetings of the organization (Box 3, folders 1-2) from 1895 to 1953, membership lists (folders 3-5), subscribers to the Stark family genealogy (folder 6), and treasurer records (folder 7). The first volume of reports of meetings states the "first Stark Reunion was suggested by Misses Emily and Jennie Stark" and that they sent out invitations to gather at Chapman's Falls in Devils Hopyard State Park in East Haddam on August 13, 1895. Box 4 contains 3 x 5 cards with cards for members by surname, first name, and by state of residence.

Series 4. Printed Works, 1897-1953, primarily contains printed copies of the annuals of The Stark Family Association. The first annual dates from 1902 and the last from 1953. As a rule, each printed annual contains reports of the activities of the Association, births, marriages, deaths, and news of family members from throughout the country. The published annual for 1940 (Box 6, folder 8), for example, contains the following birth announcement: "To Mr. and Mrs. Reginald W. Stark, a son, Bruce P. Stark, August 8, 1940, at Lyme, Conn." and obituaries of James Elllis Stark, S. Judson Stark, Mrs. Charles A. Draper, Mrs. Charles T. Gardiner, and six others. The Stark Notes section provides the information that "Mrs. [Walter] O'Sullivan, formerly Miss Olive Stark of Lyme, with her family are living at their home in Narberth, Pa." The annuals also include genealogical information and a list of members. The Annuals are important not only for the biographical information they contain on several hundred family members, but also because they continue the genealogical record beyond that covered in The Aaron Stark Family. The series concludes with a handful of printed works, mostly published genealogies, and a box of printers blocks.

Series 5. Oversize, 1843-1945, consists of four scrapbooks, a hand drawn and colored rendition of the Stark coat of arms, and an 1843 edition of the Bible used by the Association. The first two scrapbooks (Box 9, folders 1-2) primarily contain newspaper clippings of reports of meetings of the Stark Family Association and some pictures taken from magazines, one of which is an image of Admiral Harold R. Stark. Page 77 of the first volume contains a newspaper story with the headline "Chester Man Gets the Purple Heart," s story of the award given to William G. Stark in 1932. The second scrapbook covering the years 1940-47 also includes some snapshots. Scrapbooks are extremely important for containing information not easily found in other sources. The volume of photographs of Stark residences, (Box 9, folder 3) also contains histories of two houses, those of J. Warren Stark of Lyme and Sanford Stark of Mystic. The scrapbook in Box 10, in addition to photographs of individuals, also includes newspaper articles and a handful of reports on early Stark reunions.