History Degrees, Historians, History Distance Education

Most students who gravitate to history also gravitate to the classroom.  History has always been viewed as an academic discipline more than a category of profession; however today that is not entirely accurate.

The U.S. Department of Labor classifies historians in their overall professional pool of social scientists.  This is a reasonable grouping, as many of the historians working outside the classroom are performing historical analytical work along the same lines as their colleagues who are social scientists, political scientists and anthropologists. 

In 2004 there were about 18,000 social scientists of all types in the professional workplace.  About half of those worked for one level of government or another. Many worked as researchers, administrators, and counselors for a wide range of employers.

Historians research, analyze, and interpret the past. They usually specialize in a country or region, a particular period, or a particular field, such as social, intellectual, cultural, political, or diplomatic history.  Historians may find opportunities with historic preservation societies as public interest in preserving and restoring historical sites increases.  Historians with backgrounds in cultural or political patterns in foreign countries are valuable resources in such places as the Department of State or the INS, in dealing with the influx of immigrants from whose cultural lives are unfamiliar to local, state and federal officials.

Degrees for Historians

Bachelors in History

Masters in History

PhD in History

Salaries for Historians (non academic)

The median salary for a historian in 2004 was $44,490.  Presumably the large majority of these positions were for PhDs.

In the Federal Government, entry level salaries for social science job classifications depended on training and job description.  However the ranges in 2005 were:

Bachelors                      $30,567

Masters                         $37,390

PhD                               $45,239