Historian 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and institutional records, newspapers and other periodicals, photographs, interviews, films, electronic media, and unpublished manuscripts, such as personal diaries and letters.
Historian is Also Know as
In different settings, Historian is titled as
- County Historian
- County Records Management Officer (County RMO)
- Historian
- Historic Interpreter
- Historic Sites Registrar
- Historical Interpreter
- Research Associate
- Researcher
Education and Training of Historian
Historian is categorized in Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed
Experience Required for Historian
Extensive skill, knowledge, and experience are needed for these occupations. Many require more than five years of experience. For example, surgeons must complete four years of college and an additional five to seven years of specialized medical training to be able to do their job.
Education Required for Historian
Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).
Degrees Related to Historian
- Bachelor in Architectural History and Criticism, General
- Associate Degree Courses in Architectural History and Criticism, General
- Masters Degree Courses in Architectural History and Criticism, General
- Bachelor in Architectural Conservation
- Associate Degree Courses in Architectural Conservation
- Masters Degree Courses in Architectural Conservation
- Bachelor in Historic Preservation and Conservation, General
- Associate Degree Courses in Historic Preservation and Conservation, General
- Masters Degree Courses in Historic Preservation and Conservation, General
- Bachelor in Cultural Resource Management and Policy Analysis
- Associate Degree Courses in Cultural Resource Management and Policy Analysis
- Masters Degree Courses in Cultural Resource Management and Policy Analysis
- Bachelor in Historic Preservation and Conservation, Other
- Associate Degree Courses in Historic Preservation and Conservation, Other
- Masters Degree Courses in Historic Preservation and Conservation, Other
- Bachelor in Medieval and Renaissance Studies
- Associate Degree Courses in Medieval and Renaissance Studies
- Masters Degree Courses in Medieval and Renaissance Studies
Training Required for Historian
Employees may need some on-the-job training, but most of these occupations assume that the person will already have the required skills, knowledge, work-related experience, and/or training.
Related Ocuupations
Some Ocuupations related to Historian in different industries are
- Archivists
- Anthropologists and Archeologists
- Curators
- Sociologists
- Geographers
- History Teachers, Postsecondary
- Social Science Research Assistants
- Anthropology and Archeology Teachers, Postsecondary
- Park Naturalists
- News Analysts, Reporters, and Journalists
- Museum Technicians and Conservators
- Librarians and Media Collections Specialists
- Library Science Teachers, Postsecondary
- English Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary
- Poets, Lyricists and Creative Writers
- Area, Ethnic, and Cultural Studies Teachers, Postsecondary
- Data Scientists
- Political Scientists
- Library Technicians
- Survey Researchers
What Do Historian do?
- Organize data, and analyze and interpret its authenticity and relative significance.
- Gather historical data from sources such as archives, court records, diaries, news files, and photographs, as well as from books, pamphlets, and periodicals.
- Trace historical development in a particular field, such as social, cultural, political, or diplomatic history.
- Conduct historical research as a basis for the identification, conservation, and reconstruction of historic places and materials.
- Teach and conduct research in colleges, universities, museums, and other research agencies and schools.
- Conduct historical research, and publish or present findings and theories.
- Speak to various groups, organizations, and clubs to promote the aims and activities of historical societies.
- Prepare publications and exhibits, or review those prepared by others, to ensure their historical accuracy.
- Research the history of a particular country or region, or of a specific time period.
- Present historical accounts in terms of individuals or social, ethnic, political, economic, or geographic groupings.
- Determine which topics to research, or pursue research topics specified by clients or employers.
- Organize information for publication and for other means of dissemination, such as via storage media or the Internet.
- Research and prepare manuscripts in support of public programming and the development of exhibits at historic sites, museums, libraries, and archives.
- Advise or consult with individuals and institutions regarding issues such as the historical authenticity of materials or the customs of a specific historical period.
- Translate or request translation of reference materials.
- Collect detailed information on individuals for use in biographies.
- Interview people to gather information about historical events and to record oral histories.
- Recommend actions related to historical art, such as which items to add to a collection or which items to display in an exhibit.
- Coordinate activities of workers engaged in cataloging and filing materials.
- Edit historical society publications.
- Conserve and preserve manuscripts, records, and other artifacts.
Qualities of Good Historian
- Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
- Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
- Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
- Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
- Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
- Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
- Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
- Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
- Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
- Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
- Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
- Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
- Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
- Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
- Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
- Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
- Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
- Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
- Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
- Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
- Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
- Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
- Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
- Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
- Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
- Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
- Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
- Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
- Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
- Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
- Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
- Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
- Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
- Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
- Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
- Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
- Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
- Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
- Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
- Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
- Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
- Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
- Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
- Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
- Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
- Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
- Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
- Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
- Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
- Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
Tools Used by Historian
- Analog-to-digital converters
- Computer inkjet printers
- Computer laser printers
- Data input scanners
- Digital audio recorders
- Digital still cameras
- Laptop computers
- Microfiche readers
- Microfilm readers
- Microphones
- Personal computers
- Photocopying equipment
Technology Skills required for Historian
- Adobe Acrobat
- Adobe Dreamweaver
- Adobe InDesign
- Adobe Photoshop
- Archival databases
- ArchiveGrid
- Archives Wiki
- Audio editing software
- Corel WordPerfect Office Suite
- Database management systems
- Digital image collections
- Digital mapping software
- Email software
- ESRI ArcGIS software
- Extensible markup language XML
- Geographic information system GIS software
- Google Books NGram Viewer
- Gutenberg-e
- IBM SPSS Statistics
- Library of Congress digital collections
- Microsoft Access
- Microsoft Active Server Pages ASP
- Microsoft Excel
- Microsoft Office software
- Microsoft PowerPoint
- Microsoft SharePoint
- Microsoft Word
- National Archives online databases
- National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC)
- Page markers
- ProQuest Archive Finder
- QuarkXPress
- Reference management software
- Relational database management system RDMS
- Scanning software
- Searchable online catalogs
- Smithsonian Institution digital archives
- Statistical analysis software
- Structured query language SQL
- Supervisory control and data acquisition SCADA software
- Text mining software
- TokenX
- Web browser software
- Web Scrapbook
- Wonderware software