Teachers College

Teachers College, now part of Columbia University (since 1898) was the first university in the US to offer advanced degrees in manual arts education. The first two photos are from its first campus at 9 University Place, now part of the NYU campus as teachers were learning to teach woodworking. In the second photo a young practice teacher works in a model classroom under the watchful eye of professor Vroom. The next were taken at the Macy Manual Arts Building at 120th Street in New York City. The construction of the Macy Building was made possible by a gift from Caroline Macy whose son V. Everit Macy had at an early age become interested in manual arts training and taught wood carving to poor children. An early illustration of the Macy Manual Arts Building is below. Can you imagine anything so grand being built these days for the education of the hands?