One history career choice is education. If you graduate with a bachelor's degree in history you can seek certification to teach in the public school system in your state of residence. In most cases, a Bachelor of Arts alone will not qualify you to teach, but a bachelor's degree in education with an emphasis in history or social studies will. In either case, once you meet all certification requirements, you can embark on a career of teaching secondary-level students the fundamentals of history. Most schools divide history classes between world history and U.S. history. Most states require a separate competency test in these areas before you can receive teaching certification. As of July 2010, the average pay of high school history teachers nationwide was $32,735 to $52,027, according to the career information website PayScale.com.
Advanced degrees in history can lead to careers in teaching and research at the college level. The minimum qualification to teach at a college in the field of history is a master's degree, but if you want to teach at a university, the requirement is almost universally a doctorate. History professors at the university level spend a good portion of their time working on original research that furthers knowledge in the field. Areas of study vary as widely as the individuals who perform the research. Some of these include American history, Asian history, cultural history, intellectual history, ancient history and women's history. College professors who teach at smaller four-year colleges and community colleges usually focus on teaching more than research. Although research is often conducted, the nature of the school and its emphasis on teaching undergraduate students is often primary. According to BLS estimates, the median pay for historians as of May 2008 was $54,530.
Some graduates of history programs go on to pursue careers as museum curators or archivists. While the former often deals with artifacts, the latter often deals with the preservation of valuable manuscripts. In either case, high-level curators and archivists often serve as the spokesperson for the institution and often coordinate public outreach programs to make the community and others aware of the importance of their holdings. In this way, they also serve as educators. Both positions usually require a master's degree in the field of history or something closely related, such as archaeology. Archivists sometimes obtain master's degrees in library science rather than history. In any case, the BLS expects the number of jobs in this field to increase by 20 percent through 2018. As of May 2008, the median annual wage of archivists was $45,020, while museum curators earned $47,220. Those working for the federal government made significantly more at $83,758 for archivists and $90,205 for museum curators, as of March 2009.