Historian Job Description, Career as a Historian, Salary, Employment - Definition and Nature of the Work, Education and Training Requirements, Getting the Job
interview income historians history degree historical
Education and Training: Doctoral degree
Salary: Median—$44,490 per year
Employment Outlook: Fair
Definition and Nature of the Work
Historians study events, ideas, institutions, and individuals of the past. They may research and interpret events that occurred in the earliest periods of recorded time or ones that people can remember. Unlike archaeologists, who work chiefly with physical objects, historians rely mostly on written records for evidence to support their claims. However, historians sometimes use physical objects, such as photographs, costumes, and tools, to shed light on past lifestyles. Historians often try to relate knowledge of the past to present-day situations or problems.
History is a very broad field, and historians usually specialize in a particular time period, country, or region. For example, a historian may specialize in U.S. history with a more specific focus on the Great Depression. Another historian may focus on medieval history and concentrate on the German-speaking areas of Europe. Historians also specialize in certain kinds of history, such as the history of ideas, the history of immigration, the history of women, or the history of science. Sometimes historians specialize in a particular field, such as economic, social, or political history. Although historians are encouraged to specialize, they also need general knowledge to relate their findings to the broad patterns of change and continuity traced throughout the past.
About 70 percent of all historians are employed by colleges and universities. Although some have administrative duties, they generally teach, write, and do research. Some historians, known as archivists, collect historical documents and other objects for museums, special libraries, historical societies, and other organizations. Archivists prepare exhibits and organize historical materials for people who do historical research. Archivists work in places called archives where records, historic documents, and other materials are collected and preserved. Some historians working for government agencies or historical societies are involved in the preservation of historic buildings. Other historians work for publishing firms where they edit history textbooks, magazines, and other materials. Some historians serve as consultants for radio, television, and film producers,
A historian examines a weathered volume.
Although their jobs may differ, almost all historians do some historical research. This research involves reading a great deal about a subject. For example, to study the history of a particular city, historians use original resource materials, such as old maps, pictures and photographs, election returns, tax lists, census records, and city directories that list the businesses and residents of a given period. They may read many issues of old newspapers and interview people who lived in the city during the period they are studying. They may listen to tape-recorded interviews of visitors and city residents or view films of city events. They may read letters or diaries of individuals who wrote in or about the city. Their research may involve looking at the records of the city's churches and temples. Historians are trained to analyze this mass of information and sometimes make use of statistical methods and computerized data. Historians piece the information together into a picture of what the city was like during an event or an era of the past. They usually compile their findings in books or articles. They may also present them to students, groups of historians, or other people in the form of lectures.
Education and Training Requirements
You need an advanced degree to become a historian. If you have a bachelor's degree in history, you may find a job in historical research, but advancement opportunities will be limited. Most graduates with bachelor's degrees in history have jobs that are not directly related to history. Many find that their training in history is a good background for graduate study in journalism, law, business administration, and other fields. If you continue your education for one or two years after receiving a bachelor's degree and earn a master's degree in history, you will be qualified for jobs as a teacher, researcher, or archivist. In some cases you will be expected to continue studying for a doctoral degree. As early as possible, you should take courses in the language and literature of the area and period in which you plan to specialize. You may also want to take courses in statistics.
Most positions in administration and many teaching jobs in universities require a doctoral degree. It usually takes an additional two or three years of study after receiving a master's degree to obtain a doctoral degree. Historians must continue reading and studying throughout their careers so that they can keep up with new scholarship.
Getting the Job
Your professors and the placement office at your college or university can give you information about getting a job in the field of history. Openings are sometimes listed in professional journals. You can also apply directly to colleges and universities, archives, government agencies, publishing firms, and other employers that are likely to employ historians. To obtain a government job, you may have to apply through a civil service office.
Advancement Possibilities and Employment Outlook
Historians who have a doctoral degree can become full professors in colleges or universities. They can also move into jobs as administrators in colleges, universities, archives, or government agencies. Most historians advance by increasing their skills and publishing books and articles to win the recognition of other scholars. Some historians write books that have broad appeal to those outside their profession. The authors of such books are often in demand as lecturers.
Historians are social scientists, and employment opportunities for social scientists are expected to increase more slowly than the average for all occupations through the year 2014. Many qualified graduates who have a doctoral degree in history are expected to be seeking jobs. Most openings will be to replace historians who leave the field. Historians will likely face competition for academic positions, but find opportunities with historic preservation societies as public interest in preserving and restoring historical sites increases.
Working Conditions
Historians spend most of their time in pleasant offices, classrooms, and libraries. While their hours are flexible, they often total more than forty hours per week. At times historians may visit archives or historic sites or buildings as they do research. They sometimes travel to distant cities or countries to examine evidence. They need the patience to work long hours tracking down elusive facts. They must have the ability to arrange many details into a convincing and coherent picture of the past. Historians must be able to work independently and be willing to spend long hours reading and studying. They must also be able to work well with other historians, students, and the public. Historians must have excellent communication skills.
Earnings and Benefits
Earnings depend on the education and experience of the historian and the kind of job. In May 2004 the annual median income of historians was $44,490. Those employed by private companies generally earn higher salaries. Many historians add to their income through writing, lecturing, or consulting projects. Benefits include paid holidays and vacations, insurance, and retirement plans.
User Comments
almost 3 years ago
history has always intrested me, but instead of being shut up in a library all the time is there any way that i could physically reasearch history as a career? as in people tell me where i have to go, what im looking for and then i go there and get back to them with my findings? because that would be the best. thanks, this site is really imformative
12 months ago
i'm 16 i want to be a historian but i can only go for a bachelor degree because of my family's limited reasources. what jobs are available to me?
almost 2 years ago
Marco Moniz
I am 14 years old and i love history i especialy love mideval history and i love the crusades what is likelihood of getting A job oppurtunity in this field???
over 1 year ago
i want to be a historian. i want to do doctorate in History
but i have completed my bachelor degree in engineering. should i do my second bachelor degree in history or should i continue to do my master degree in history
11 months ago
Molly
I am 17 and about to go to college in less than a year. I want to become a historian that works in the history museum working with American History. What kind of degrees would I need to achieve this goal?
about 1 year ago
hello, I am 15 years old, sophomore, and I'm undecided on what I want to be when I'm older but I am interested in what a historian does. I like to travel, read(A LOT) and I'm currently learning my third language which is french. I love the civil war,japanese,and italian history. If I choose to become a historian what classes should I take in high school and what I should major in college?
over 3 years ago
i have always wanted to be involved in history. Now I can see that being a historian - reinessance; london, england- would be exactly how i pictured it. Is $44,490 a fairly well off person or more middle class? This has been really helpful to me.
11 months ago
i love history i'm a freshman in high school. But i also would like to be a history teacher in high school!! idk what to do..
over 1 year ago
Maddie Noble
I am 13, and I have loved history ever since I was 10. Are there any jobs about Civil War Era/WW2 home front? If so, what do I need to study to graduate for it?
about 2 years ago
You really need to get a PhD if you want to become a historian.
I have a masters degree in history and I work in a grocery store!
To be admitted into PhD or masters research you really need first class honours at undergrad level or upper second class. You should also remember that completing a PhD is a very difficult task and requires a lot of patience.
about 1 year ago
Historians make more than that also it depends on the degree and the place. Average is actually 54,530.
about 2 years ago
Nelson Ramos
Watz up ya, I'm just 11 years old, but I want to become a historian. I relish and cherish studying early history. In fact, I always get A+'s on history tests. what I'm not sure of which type of historian I desire to become?
over 2 years ago
Oliver Nolan
Hi
I am eager to become a Historian when i am older. I love History and i really want to be able to study it further. Trouble is, i am not sure what qualifications i need and how long i need to study. Would a PhD be what i need for this?
over 2 years ago
Set
This has been very helpful. One of the reasons I want to become a historian is to find undebunkable facts to support the truth and to provide understanding whilst dividing fact from fiction and lecturing my results.
Becoming a historian would be an ideal career for a presuasive, enthusiastic, young, motivated person such as myself, that wants to enlighten those who are intersted in humanity's past, present, and most probable future and to find solid proof for myself with no loop holes or lies to support ones ideology or religious dogmas. I would love to then take it to a political level.
For me this seems a practical, enjoyable and logical career for me to persue, being as I am indeed an advid day dreamer, who always relates what I know and already research to present day conflicts and resolutions along with the past. History seems to inevitably repeat itself so it could be very useful. The traveling portion of the career seems to seal the deal, being one of the first people to go to the sites and being able to actually touch, walk into, feel, smell and see the artifacts, books, clothing, evidence and other insights into the past would be one of the priceless rewards for hard work literally earned.
I still need to however check out the links on this page, which by the looks of the comments here most people need to do the same and read a bit more carefully and take what info they have and make use with it if they expect to become or exceed in this career. o.-
over 3 years ago
For years ive thought that i could just goto community college, then transfer to a university and hopefully finish with a degree in history, but now that ive seen this, it makes me want to look into the subject further and investigate EVERY aspect and possibility of the profession. I always wondered how historians got paid as well, and am glad I found the answer.
10 months ago
u have a gf randomness
10 months ago
justkidding
10 months ago
i luv history but im no very good tehehehehehheehe
10 months ago
im gay
almost 5 years ago
I understand this information and I like what I hear. I am complexed though. If I wanted to get a historian job for a private "company" like the vatican how would I go about something like this. You see i'm the type of person who loves knowledge more than life itself and see no other reason to live but to learn all you can and decide what you believe is true and false and from my understanding the Vatican has access to unlimited knowledge and has ways of getting their hands on knowlegde. I really want to work in their libriaries that are forbidden to the public because it seems to be a lot of important knowledge there. If anyone can tell how to get a job working there I would be greatful. I graduate this year from high school. I'm very insterested in this field.
12 months ago
hi am a 17 year old girl that wanted to do archaeology but i ddint do physics so i did research and a historian was the closet thing to a archaeologist is their maybe any way in which i can still do something in history but be out in the field i would prefer to do work where am outside rather than be indoors in a office need help
6 months ago
Nina
I love reading and learning about the past. My main interest is studying religions and cultures as well as their mythologies and subject related archives. I just finished my first year at community college and am currently finishing my general education courses. What educational course plan would be best to reach my ultimate potential.
I really would also appreciate some acceptional University options I could take.
Thank you.
3 months ago
Heather Moore
hiii i really like this type of work i love history but im not sure if i like this field is correct for me i would like to be outdoors and discover, but im a freshman what should i do
over 4 years ago
This sounds like me. Every since I could remember, I have always wanted to know. Like, around me, even if I'm not supposed to. I love to learn new and interesting things about the past that I didn't know. I have been giving this a lot of thought for so many months that I forgot where I started to think about it. But I am really considering on becoming somewhat of a historian. Seeing the world, old and new, and learning of it's past experience is what I crave and I would really like it if someone could tell me what I need to do in high school, or point me in the right direction. The one part of history that I love, is how flexible the human mind to be when facing things unknown and they substitute it with their imagination to understand it. Where fables and myths come from. I'm just now entering my junior year in high school, and would like to know what I could do before going to college.
Adios
3 months ago
I would like to become a Historian when i am older .I'm doing a report on what it takes to be a historian !!! Tell me if you have any info for my report
THANKS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
4 months ago
angharad thomas
this website did not help me at all because i wnted to now why historians must get events in the correct order!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
4 months ago
Hi, i love history of the roman empire. My favorite Emperor was Augustus Ceasar, and i want to grow up to be a historian of the roman empire. I am hoping that the company i work for will supply me to travel to rome to do investigations on just how the roman empire worked, maybe even find out that romans still existed, but in hiding somewhere.
5 months ago
garreaurg
this is the best sight i have been od
about 2 years ago
Hi
Iv got a B.A degree in History and are eager for a job. Any tips?
almost 3 years ago
How much will my training/coursework cost to become a historian?
over 3 years ago
my career path=
world history
focus-ww2 axis powers (specifically germany)
minor-german language
almost 4 years ago
wow, I'm happy, this career would be perfect. This said basically everything I wanted to do. I know what degree I want and some idea of what I wanted to do, but now i have an idea of exactly what I want to do.
about 1 year ago
21Sweets
My name is jody,I'm a Poronographic Star and i'm looking for the perfect WWII setting... help me?
10 months ago
i luv history tehehe but im not very good at it
4 months ago
aaron
hi ladies am 12 and i want to be a historian too
4 months ago
i have look into this job alot i really like history mainly the crussades and in the fact of germanys struggle through wwII But also the fact the subject isnt dull or unspoken in any way :)
4 months ago
David
My professor is a historian.She has been to the Pyramids of Giza from the top of the great pyramid to the burial chamber under it. she helped uncover mummies in the valley of the kings. she works as an expert for the History Channel, she's the Curator for the Little House on the Prairie, she met the Dahlai Lama and chases tornadoes as a hobby. There is more to it than sitting in the library if you want it to be.
4 months ago
aaron
hi ladies am 12 and i want to be a historian too
4 months ago
aaron
hi ladies am 12 and i want to be a historian too
8 days ago
History has always been one of mifavourite subject. i love it so much and want to get a bachelors degree in history. All i need is a scholarship if i can get one i would be really happy.
22 days ago
I'm 18 and going to college soon I love history. I want to study mainly religion what should I go for a diploma in History or is there a specific Religion degree? I really want to study the History of religion and what other culturs practice in the line of religion. Basically everything to do with religion I'm interested in so I would appreciate what you have to tell me.
22 days ago
Carra
What are the hours of a historian?
29 days ago
im a sophmore in high school and i love biblical and ancient history
30 days ago
jhoan
Hi! I'm 20, i really want to be a historian since when i was in grade school, but now i'm already a graduating student of B.S psychology, because of my family's limited resources, should i need to take an another bachelor's degree in history or should i continue to do my master degree in history?
30 days ago
jhoan
Hi! I'm 20, i really want to be a historian since when i was in grade school, but now i'm already a graduating student of B.S psychology, because of my family's limited resources, should i need to take an another bachelor's degree in history or should i continue to do my master degree in history?
about 1 month ago
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