Social Studies
Career Opportunities With a History Degree
Marketing and Advertising:
Researching market performance
Determining trends for future decisions
Analyzing historical marketing techniques, systems and advertising strategies
Publishing:
Copyediting and editing
Evaluating manuscripts
Researching market demands for historical publications and their uses (educational,
personal, etc.)
Public Relations:
Researching and analyzing public trends
Presenting clients' activities based on historical interpretation
Managing company archives
Writing historical material for organizational promotional purposes
Manufacturing:
Analyzing markets, finances, economics, and political risk over time
Training staff in corporate history and foreign cultures through diversity and
multiculturalism workshops
Collecting and documenting oral histories for organizational diagnosis
Managing company archives
Writing history of the business or organization
Curating exhibits of archival materials and memorabilia
Industries in General:
Researching
Performing analysis studies
Writing public relations and educational materials
Writing corporate communications
Documenting organizational history
Managing archives and information retrieval services
Mineral Extraction Industries:
Analyzing political risk and key political figures with reference to economic implications
for business.
Researching claims and geographical and land use history.
Utilities:
Reviewing local issues and concerns
Making policy and management studies
Providing information services
Performing historical analysis
Managing archives
Law:
Researching public and private archives and records collections
Collecting oral history for depositions
Developing support material from historical evidence
Banking:
Producing historical financial, economic, and political risk analyses
Managing archives
Researching policy issues
Writing and teaching staff corporate history
Exhibiting historical displays
Insurance:
Researching and evaluating case histories
Preparing studies of policy matters
Performing legislative analysis
Managing company archives
Investment Services:
Managing archives and records
Performing research and analysis for companies that specialize in the purchasing, issuing,
and selling of corporate equity (such as brokerage firms and investment banking houses)
Communications:
Researching and writing historical documentaries and narratives
Analyzing public trends over time
Providing information and archival services to motion picture firms, networks, cable
television companies, and record and tape industries
Journalism:
Searching and researching historical records
Interviewing with oral history techniques
Writing and editing for newspapers, new, trade, and professional (scholarly) journals,
historical and popular periodicals and magazines, textbooks, and books.
Public Sector Opportunities
The government is one of the largest employers of students with training and degrees in
history and related fields.
Executive Branch:
In Cabinet-level departments (The Department of State, Department of Interior, National
Park Service, etc.) and in independent organizations within the federal government
(The
National Endowment for the Humanities (Smithsonian Institution, etc.):
Studying current issues studies
Analyzing policy performance, long-range trends, etc.
Preserving and organizing institutional records
Editing of public records and documents
Legislative Branch:
In the historical offices of stage legislatures, the Senate and the United States House of
Representatives:
Performing staff and committee investigations
Publishing bibliographic material
Serving on study commissions
Providing research assistance where needed
Judicial Branch:
In the United States Supreme Court Curator's Office and various historical offices,
projects, and regulatory agencies:
Collecting and preserving records
Analyzing policy
Providing research where needed
Writing reports and various office correspondence, etc.
Military Services:
Managing the museums and archival and records centers for the United States Army, Navy,
Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and National Guard
Lecturing on specific issues
Prepare institutional histories, etc.
The Foreign Service:
Duties include researching and writing on the diplomatic, economic, political, social, and
cultural history of various areas. A test is required for entrance and placement analysis.
Civil Service:
Duties depend on the type of location placement is granted. A test is required for entrance
and placement analysis.
National Archives and Records Service:
Duties include:
Managing archives, manuscripts, and records.
Microfilming of collection items
Other Opportunities:
The public sector offers many other possibilities, such as:
Working in libraries, historic sites, museum, community history education centers, etc.
Working in areas of policy history, oral history, public administration, cultural resource management, genealogy and family history, public works, land-use management, urban history and development, demographic history, environmental history, archeological projects, etc.
Working in local, statewide, and national historical societies.
Non-Profit Sector Opportunities
In addition to appointments within the United States government, the no-profit sector (organizations with 501(c) 3 status) offers a wide array of professional positions in research, administration, education, and exhibition design. Many historians work in fund- raising for these organizations.
History majors in particular are well suited for appointments within the following
institutions:
Historical commissions, associations, and societies
Scholarly and professional associations
Galleries and museums
Colleges and universities
Research foundations and institutional "think tanks"
Service institutions (agencies, foundations, etc.)
Other philanthropic organizations which provide educational, social, and cultural services
to the public
Opportunities within the Field of Education
If teaching history is what you would like to do, appointments can be found in:
Public and private elementary and secondary schools.
Community colleges
Small and large undergraduate and graduate colleges and universities
Other possibilities include district and state offices for curriculum and text preparation,
state and federal departments of education, adult education centers, and corporate training
programs.
Individual and Small-Firm Opportunities
If you have the entrepreneurial spirit and wish to get involved with a small firm or start
one of your own, several fields where a history major will surely come in handy are:
Consulting: Cultural Resources
Preservation and cultural resource management policy
Researching and preparing cultural resource statements for environmental impact reports
Identifying and evaluating historic structures and cultural resources
Selecting structures for legal protection
Preparing and teaching preservation education programs
Research/Writing
Preparing histories, etc.
Searching and researching public and private records
Performing legal and policy research services
Interviewing and transcribing for oral histories
Historical editing and indexing
Fund-raising
Genealogical Services:
Searching, researching, and preparing reports on family and community histories
Preservation/Restoration Services:
Working in firms offering historic preservation/restoration services
Rehabilitating historically accurate buildings and artifacts
Providing information services on the field
Researching preservation law and tax benefits
Writing (as professional writers, editors, journalists)
Author your own historical books, pamphlets, articles, and research papers
Freelance
Sources of Additional Information
American Association for State and Local History: 172 Second Avenue North, suite 202, Nashville, TN 37201
National Trust for Historic Preservation: 740-748 Jackson Place, NW, Washington, DC 20506
National Endowment for the Humanities: 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20506
National History Education Network: Department of History, The University of Tulsa, 600 South College Avenue, Tulsa, OK 74104-3189
American Historical Association: 400 A Street, SE, Washington, DC, 20003