Historian Job Description

They say that history is the best teacher. Mankind has learned a lot from history. Ever wondered who is responsible for the recording of history. It is the job of a historian. Though, one may have heard about this profession, but not much is known about what exactly they do. To know about it, read the historian job description given.

Do not get this profession confused with archaeologists, archaeologists work with objects, whereas historians are dependent on recorded history. They read the recordings made by past historians. The profession of a historian is an ancient one. They have existed from a long time. Historians have been important parts of many dynasties that ruled countries. They would make records of all the significant and major happenings during their time. These records would then be preserved.

The historians of today do the same thing; they make records of significant events. However, they also study the records made by historians in the past. The overall history of the world is too vast to study at one go. Therefore, historians specialize in a certain era. This is further broken down to specific countries and even particular dynasties. It is a must for all historians as part of the historian job description.

After choosing a particular time era, the historians will then study everything about what happened during that time. They study events like wars, famines, earthquakes, epidemics etc. They study how the economy was during those times. These studies help in understanding what the living conditions were like in those times. The recordings of natural disasters help in understanding weather patterns of that particular time, which is useful to study the weather of today and make comparisons.

Historians also get to study different languages and manuscripts. They have to study the language and translate what is written in the ancient documents that they are studying. Hence, they have to be really good at the language because those documents can contain vital information. All these are still a few of their responsibilities; more detailed about the information is given below in the bulleted points.

Duties and responsibilities of a historian

They have to study all the historical documents of the historical era they have chosen
Though, historians have to pick a specialization, they also need to have general historical knowledge
They have to even study the language prevalent during that time and know the complete manuscripts
The historians working in research have to do comparative studies of the things happening back then and compare them to situations prevalent in current times
They have to work closely with archaeologists and should know a little bit about archeology as well
The historians are employed by universities and colleges and have to follow the protocols set by them
Historians mostly teach and hence, they have to teach students about history
The historians have access to important and old documents, hence, they have to store those documents in safe and secure way

Education required by historians

A bachelor's degree is the first requirement
A master's degree is the next step if one is interested in teaching
Then one has to complete a doctorate with a thesis
Courses in statistics give a leg up in becoming a historian

Career Advancement

After becoming historians and gaining good experience, they can become college professors and get tenure in their jobs.

The historian job description helps in research and comparative studies as many believe that history repeats itself, and their work can be useful as a forewarning.