Historians

What Does a Historians Do?

Research, analyze, record, and interpret the past as recorded in sources, such as government and institutional records, newspapers and other periodicals, photographs, interviews, films, electronic media, and unpublished manuscripts, such as personal diaries and letters.

Day-to-Day Responsibilities

• 1Gather historical data from sources such as archives, court records, diaries, news files, and photographs, as well as from books, pamphlets, and periodicals.
• 2Organize data, and analyze and interpret its authenticity and relative significance.
• 3Prepare publications and exhibits, or review those prepared by others, to ensure their historical accuracy.
• 4Organize information for publication and for other means of dissemination, such as via storage media or the Internet.
• 5Conduct historical research as a basis for the identification, conservation, and reconstruction of historic places and materials.
• 6Conserve and preserve manuscripts, records, and other artifacts.
• 7Present historical accounts in terms of individuals or social, ethnic, political, economic, or geographic groupings.
• 8Research the history of a particular country or region, or of a specific time period.

Required Skills

• Reading Comprehension
• Writing
• Critical Thinking
• Active Listening
• Speaking
• Active Learning
• Adobe Acrobat
• Adobe Dreamweaver
• Adobe InDesign
• Adobe Photoshop
• Archival databases
• ArchiveGrid
• Archives Wiki
• Audio editing software
• Corel WordPerfect Office Suite
• Database management systems

Historians Salary