Manual of the Fisk Teachers' Agencies 1896 [with] teacher registration form

94, (12)pp. Stamped "From the New York Office" Mint green wrappers printed in red ink with pictorial ads. Near Fine with minor creasing. A crisp copy accompanied by an agency circular advertising their terms to teachers with a registration form on the verso. The form asks for the teacher's Church affiliation, marriage status, salary expectations, subjects, etc. Full of great advertisements for schools, books, supplies, bicycles and general novelties.

The Fisk Teachers' Agencies had chapters in Boston, New York, Chicago, Toronto, Washington DC, Minneapolis, Kansas City and Los Angeles. Teacher agencies served a crucial role in supplying the ballooning 19C American school system with teachers.  Originally criticized for attracting only third-rate talent unable to secure work on their own merit (or through Normal School affiliation), Fisk systematized the process such that schools were competing for the best-quality teachers, thus the manual contains ads for the schools themselves touting their campuses and facilities in hopes of winning over the candidates who could have their pick of placement.  

(See: Fisk, "The Development of the Teachers' Agency" in Journal of Education, July 14, 1892, p.57-58).