ENAbout
Founded on December 25, 1854, to further the cause of public and free education in Indiana, the Indiana State Teachers Association (ISTA) played an active and critical role in the development of modern public education within the state. Open to educators and the general public alike, the ISTA spent the first several decades of its existence striving to lay the foundations of public education, including creating new municipal taxes, unifying grading and curriculum throughout the state, and providing continuing development opportunities for educators. One of the key pursuits was securing the successful execution of the new state constitution of 1851, which provided strong language in support of public education, “to provide by law for a general and uniform system of common schools wherein tuition shall be without charge and equally open to all.” After court rulings and legislative initiatives, rural Indiana schools would become racially integrated by the late 1800s, with larger school districts maintaining a segregationist approach. The ISTA continues today by increasing attention on legislative issues about schooling and advocating for teachers.
The ISTA register is important for genealogists and scholarly researchers. Providing rare documentation of individual ISTA participants, researchers can catch a glimpse of the professional credentials and work experience of public school teachers of the era. Using our own Research Indiana Indexes searchable database of names, which these names will be added to, genealogists will also be able to quickly find individuals of interest along with all their associated personal details. Unlike many records of the era, this book includes a significant number of names and details of women and minorities, making it a particularly valuable resource for patrons. By digitizing and transcribing this book, it also helps to ensure the preservation of this information for decades to come.
Each page of this project will be transcribed like a spreadsheet. Before you begin transcribing, please see the transcription instructions directly under the page image or on the Help tab. The arrow keys on your keyboard will allow you to advance to the next field, and the Enter key will move you to the next line. You can also change the layout so that the page appears above or next to the transcription fields. Also, if a note spills over into the next column, make sure to include the note under the column in which it was first written.
Content warning: Please be aware that some of the original language included may be outdated, biased, offensive, or otherwise insensitive. The Indiana State Archives recognizes this primary source for its potential historical significance and does not condone the usage of any language expressed in the work.
