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Historians

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and institutional records, newspapers and other periodicals, photographs, interviews, films, electronic media, and unpublished manuscripts, such as personal diaries and letters.

What you’d do

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

Skills that matter

  • Reading Comprehension
  • Critical Thinking
  • Writing
  • Active Learning
  • Active Listening
  • Speaking

How to get there

Extensive preparation: most need graduate school, such as a master's degree or higher

Also called

  • Collections Specialist
  • Historian
  • Historical Interpreter
  • Researcher
  • County Historian
  • Historic Architectural Resources Curator

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