Nina Howell Starr

Nina Howell Starr (1903–2000) was an American photographer, art historian, and art dealer. She is known for her influence in the career of artist Minnie Evans, and her photo-documentation of American roadside attractions and folk art culture.

Early life and education She was born Cornelia Margaret Howell in 1903 in Newark, New Jersey. Her parents were Edison Pioneer John White Howell and Frederica Burckle Gilchrist. Her sister was Jane Howell Lovejoy, former president of the Detroit Board of Education and a former governor of Wayne State University.

Starr briefly attended Wellesley College, and she graduated in 1926 from Barnard College. Her sister-in-law was artist Ruth Starr Rose. Nathan and Nina had four children together, one son and three daughters. In the 1930s, she continued her studies and took architecture courses at Bennington College in Vermont. Evans was working at the gardens when they met, and since 1948 Evans had displayed her artwork near her work station. Starr was instrumental in arranging a 1975 solo exhibition of Evan's drawings at the Whitney Museum of American Art, where Starr served as a guest curator,

Death She died on May 14, 2000, at the age of 97, in her home in Hamden, Connecticut.

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