Daily AncestorIntelligence office keeper
An intelligence office keeper ran an employment agency, an office where employers found servants and workers and job seekers found places.
Intelligence here means information, not spying: an intelligence office was where you went to learn of servants for hire. The idea goes back to a 1650 proposal in England for an office linking employers and workers.
By the 1840s American intelligence offices had a seedy reputation, and a reform paper told stories of young women lured to New England cities by false job offers. They were the forerunners of the modern employment agency.
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Daily Ancestor. "Intelligence office keeper." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/occupations/intelligence-office-keeper. Last checked 2026-10-10.