15 tasks, each one witnessed by the sources that watched the job — and behind every one, a prompt you can use tonight.
You’ll split time between reading archives, writing reports, and meeting people. Mornings often mean digging into primary sources—letters, official reports, unit diaries—either in paper files or PDFs in Adobe Acrobat.
Afternoons are for analysis and writing: building timelines in Excel, drafting articles in Word, or preparing slides in PowerPoint for a talk. Some days you teach a class, run a public program, or supervise cataloging staff in SharePoint or Access.
Learn Microsoft Word and Excel first; you’ll draft articles and build timelines and spreadsheets of events and personnel. PowerPoint is next for conference talks and public lectures.
Then learn Adobe Acrobat for PDFs, Microsoft Access or SharePoint for cataloging collections, and basic SPSS if you plan statistical analysis of casualty lists or demographics.
You do source criticism: check who wrote it, when, and why. Compare an eyewitness account against unit reports, orders, and later documents to spot contradictions.
Also look for provenance—the chain of custody—using catalog records in Access or SharePoint, and note transcription or translation errors when you use translated materials.
Yes, but use AI cautiously. AI can summarize long documents, suggest leads, or help format bibliographies, but it often hallucinates facts. Always verify any AI output against original sources and cite the primary document.
Never rely on AI for translations of old languages or for final factual claims. Use it as an assistant to speed tasks like outlining or converting notes into Word or PowerPoint drafts.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), about 3,450 people were employed as historians in 2025. The median pay was $76,750 per year.
The lowest tenth earned about $42,730, and the top tenth about $131,810, per BLS. Pay varies by employer: museums, universities, government agencies, or private research firms.
Major in history with classes in military history, archival methods, and research methods. Learn Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and how to use library databases and Adobe Acrobat for PDFs.
Get internships at museums, historical societies, or archives. Do original research projects and learn cataloguing in Access or SharePoint—those practical skills help you get paid roles.
A military historian focuses on writing narratives and analysis about military events, using documents, orders, and biographies; they publish, teach, and present findings at conferences.
An archivist manages and preserves collections, runs cataloguing systems like Access or SharePoint, and ensures records’ long-term access. An archaeologist studies physical artifacts and digs in the ground—different methods and tools.