Archiving: A History Buff's Alternative to Teaching

                                                                   by Juan Carlos Sanabria
                                                                        February 18, 2013

            Many times when I mention that I'm a history major, people ask me, “so you're going to teach?” I've become very skilled at answering that question. I would then go into how a history degree can allow you to work as a curator, a researcher, a journalist, or an archivist - careers that, one way or another, deal with the field of historical study (like a history teacher would). Then some people respond by saying those careers don't entail as high an income as teaching, with which I don't disagree. Teaching has 17% job growth, beating archiving's growth by five percent on the United States' Bureau of Labor Statistics website. There are also a lot more teaching jobs than archiving ones, and many of those archiving jobs entail traveling to other parts of the country. But as a twenty-five year old with no children, working as, say, a civilian archivist for the military, I can make a decent living for myself – and hopefully remain nearby my family in Florida.

            What many of these inquirers forget or may not know is that the experience I get from working as an archiving assistant can also land me a job in business and/or industry, dealing with a organization or a company's records, documents – any type of material requiring oversight. These jobs may not involve the type of historical study history buffs enjoy, but depending on the employer, the salaries are typically higher than working for organizations strictly within the field of historical study.

            If a history buff wants an alternative to teaching, then one of the options I'd mention is archiving. It may not pay as well as teaching, but it allows the avid history buff access to documents that can help expand his or her knowledge of a period and place. As he or she reviews, chooses, and classifies the items for a collection, the history buff can indulge in his or her favorite past time by reading up on little-known facets about a person, place, event, or thing. Being an archivist places the history buff within the process of writing history. Professors come to archives to analyze and interpret history, and to help them, archivists must understand what collections will aid them in solidifying their conclusions. So in a way, an archiving career at a historical society, entails some of the same analysis and interpretation a professor would demonstrate in his or her publications.

            I hope this has been helpful for those considering archiving.

Best,

JCS