14 tasks, each one witnessed by the sources that watched the job — and behind every one, a prompt you can use tonight.
You spend most days inside archives, reading letters, memos and treaty drafts to answer a research question. That often means scanning microfilm, reading physical files, or working with digital collections in Microsoft SharePoint or local library systems.
You also write reports, edit society newsletters in Microsoft Word, prepare a PowerPoint for a public talk, and meet colleagues about cataloging or outreach programs. Some days are spent teaching a class or presenting findings at a conference.
Expect Microsoft Word and Adobe Acrobat for writing and annotating documents, Excel or Access for organizing data about sources, and PowerPoint for talks. Institutions often use Microsoft SharePoint to store and share digitized files.
If you map routes, troop movements, or treaty borders you may use ESRI ArcGIS. Those are the main systems named by employers; learning them is practical and often required.
Check who created the document, when, and why—an official diplomatic cable written the day after a crisis is different from a memoir written decades later. Look for corroboration in other primary sources and official records.
Use source criticism: note bias, missing context, and the document’s chain of custody. Log your judgments in Excel or Access so you can show which sources you trust and why.
AI can summarize long documents or translate rough text, but never rely on it for final translations or historical interpretation. Always cross-check AI output against originals and human translators, especially for diplomatic language and dates.
Keep originals and translation notes in SharePoint or your archive, and mark any AI-assisted work clearly. AI helps triage sources, not replace source criticism or archival work.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), about 3,450 people are employed in this occupation. The median annual wage is $76,750, the lowest 10% earn around $42,730, and the top 10% make about $131,810 per year.
Salaries vary by employer type: federal archives, universities, museums, think tanks, or private firms. BLS is the source for these numbers.
Start with a bachelor’s in history, international relations, or area studies. Learn archival methods, a foreign language used by your focus area, and basic software: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and an archival system like SharePoint.
Get practical experience through internships at national archives, university special collections, or a historical society where you’ll practice cataloging, source criticism, and presenting research.
Employers expect rigorous source criticism: the ability to assess provenance, bias, and reliability of documents and to record that assessment clearly. That skill is central to almost every task listed.
Concrete habits matter: careful cataloging, accurate metadata in Access or Excel, and clear writing for publications or outreach programs. Those practices make your research usable by others.