Indiana Historical Society - Manuscripts and Archives Department

DEBORAH STARKS
COLLECTION, 1948-1986

Collection #
M 0497

Table of Contents

Collection Information
Biographical Sketch
Scope and Content Note
Box and Folder Listing
Cataloging Information

Processed by
Robert W. Eherenman

Deborah Godwin Starks was born in Birmingham, Alabama on June 16, 1950. She was the second of Beatrice and Jennie Godwin's three children. Jennie Godwin worked for the United States Steel Corporation. Deborah Starks lived in Fairfield, Alabama for twenty-two years until 1972 when she moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana. That same year, she married John Wesley Starks, a mechanic at Phelps Dodge Magnet Wire, and the couple moved to Churubusco, Indiana in 1977. Starks attended Booker T. Washington Junior College of Business in Birmingham, Alabama, Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, and Indiana University-Purdue University at Fort Wayne (IPFW).

Mrs. Starks has been involved in a wide variety of activities. In 1973 she was the school community liaison for the Fort Wayne Community Schools. Starks has been affiliated with the East Creighton Neighborhood Association, the boy scouts, Gamma Phi Delta sorority, Fort Wayne Women's Bureau, and the Minority Women's Network. She has been a staff writer for The Communicator, the campus newspaper for IPFW. She has received awards from Gamma Phi Delta, the Fort Wayne Community Schools, and the Missionary Society of Turner Chapel AME Church. Deborah Starks has been a member of St. Paul's Luthern Church since 1976.

Source: Black Women in the Middle West Project: A Comprehensive Resource Guide Illinois Indiana, p. 136.

This collection is a combination of various materials from six different women. The material was collected during the Black Women in the Middle West Project, under the auspices of Mrs. Deborah Starks in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The folders contain papers that deal primarily with the Fort Wayne area: news, organizations, and people. All the collections here are from people who have lived a large part of their lives in Fort Wayne.

Box 1, Folders 1-8 contains Deborah Starks's papers, including short stories, poems, letters, awards, and newspapers clippings. Also in this box, there are the transcriptions of the life of Maddy Bruce, a native of Chester, Georgia who moved to Fort Wayne in 1936.

Box 2, Folders 9-15 has the C. Maxine Hall papers. Included in this collection are a family history, speeches, letters of commendation, church programs, correspondence, and newspaper clippings. The Hall collection spans a time period from 1948 to 1986. Also found in this box are Corrine Brooks's papers, which consist of newspaper clippings, a certificate of appointment, and a letter of commendation from the mayor of Fort Wayne. Genois Wilson was an active member of the Fort Wayne Fire Department, and in her collection there are newspaper clippings and congratulatory letters from the city for her community service. The last collection in this box is the Marjorie Wickliffe collection. There is material on the Fort Wayne Urban League, a seminar pamphlet, and banquet programs.

Box 1: Deborah Starks and Maddy Bruce; Maxine Hall, Corrine Brooks, Genois Wilson, and Marjorie Wickliffe

CATALOGING INFORMATION

For additional information on this collection, including a list of subject headings that may lead you to related materials:

1. Go to the Indiana Historical Society's online catalog
2. Click on the "Local Catalog" icon.
3. Search for the collection by its call number, using the letter or letters designation and four digits (e.g., M 0715, SC 2234).
4. When you find the collection, go to the "Holdings" screen for a list of headings that can be searched for related materials.

END