Careers in Public History

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The AHA's job listings include ads for public history positions.

A range of other resources listing job opportunities outside the academy are available:

General Information about Working in Public History

Careers for Students of History, a joint publication of the AHA, the NCPH, and the faculty and students of the Public History Program at the University of South Carolina, provides an overview of career options for professional historians. You may order the print edition, or consult the online version.

Beyond Academe offers history PhDs information about employment opportunities outside the academy.

The Chronicle of Higher Education regularly publishes first-person articles by PhDs employed or seeking employment outside academe.

Public History: Essays from the Field, James B. Gardner and Peter S. Lapaglia, eds. (2004), provides a useful introduction to the field.

Directories maintained by professional associations can give you an idea of the range of employment opportunities open to the professional historian. Useful sources include the Directory of Federal Historical Programs and Activities compiled by the Society for History in the Federal Government, the Directory of Historical Consultants maintained by the National Council on Public History, and the American Association for State and Local History's Directory of Historical Organizations in the United States and Canada. The AHA's Directory of History Departments, Historical Organizations, and Historians is another valuable resource.