# Historians

> Research, analyze, record, and interpret the past as recorded in sources, such as government and institutional records, newspapers and other periodicals, photographs, interviews, films, electronic media, and unpublished manuscripts, such as personal diaries and letters.

- **SOC code:** 19-3093.00
- **Canonical URL:** https://singulariki.com/roles/role-19-3093-00
- **Also known as:** Collections Specialist, Historian, Historical Interpreter, Researcher, County Historian, Historic Architectural Resources Curator, Historic Interpreter, Historic Preservation Coordinator
- **Frame:** "AI exposure" means task overlap (how codifiable the work is), not jobs lost or a forecast. Every figure below is traced to a named public dataset.

## What this work is

**Core tasks** (O*NET):
- Gather historical data from sources such as archives, court records, diaries, news files, and photographs, as well as from books, pamphlets, and periodicals.
- Organize data, and analyze and interpret its authenticity and relative significance.
- Prepare publications and exhibits, or review those prepared by others, to ensure their historical accuracy.
- Organize information for publication and for other means of dissemination, such as via storage media or the Internet.
- Conduct historical research as a basis for the identification, conservation, and reconstruction of historic places and materials.
- Conserve and preserve manuscripts, records, and other artifacts.
- Research the history of a particular country or region, or of a specific time period.
- Present historical accounts in terms of individuals or social, ethnic, political, economic, or geographic groupings.
- Conduct historical research, and publish or present findings and theories.
- Determine which topics to research, or pursue research topics specified by clients or employers.
- Recommend actions related to historical art, such as which items to add to a collection or which items to display in an exhibit.
- Coordinate activities of workers engaged in cataloging and filing materials.

**Emerging tasks** (O*NET):
- Coordinate artifact donations on behalf of a museum.
- Create and revise scripts for the tour guides.
- Write policies and procedures for archival collection care and research protocols.

## Skills, tools, capabilities

**Knowledge, skills & abilities** (O*NET, highest importance first):
- Written Comprehension _(ability)_
- Reading Comprehension _(essential_skill)_
- History and Archeology _(knowledge)_
- Written Expression _(ability)_
- Writing _(essential_skill)_
- Critical Thinking _(essential_skill)_
- English Language _(knowledge)_
- Active Listening _(essential_skill)_
- Speaking _(essential_skill)_
- Active Learning _(essential_skill)_
- Oral Comprehension _(ability)_
- Oral Expression _(ability)_

**Skills in demand:**
- Reading Comprehension _(Common Skill)_
- Writing _(Common Skill)_
- Critical Thinking _(Common Skill)_
- English Language _(Common Skill)_
- Active Listening _(Common Skill)_
- Active Learning _(Common Skill)_
- Inductive Reasoning _(Common Skill)_
- Deductive Reasoning _(Common Skill)_
- Speech Recognition _(Specialized Skill)_
- Microsoft Word _(Common Skill)_
- Microsoft PowerPoint _(Common Skill)_
- Microsoft Excel _(Common Skill)_

**Tools & technology:**
- Adobe Acrobat _(hot technology, in demand)_
- ESRI ArcGIS software _(hot technology, in demand)_
- Microsoft Excel _(hot technology, in demand)_
- Microsoft Office software _(hot technology, in demand)_
- Microsoft PowerPoint _(hot technology, in demand)_
- Microsoft Word _(hot technology, in demand)_
- Adobe InDesign _(hot technology)_
- Adobe Photoshop _(hot technology)_
- Extensible markup language XML _(hot technology)_
- IBM SPSS Statistics _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Access _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Active Server Pages ASP _(hot technology)_

## AI exposure & outlook

- **AI task-overlap index:** 88th percentile (High) across all occupations — composite of current-era exposure studies (ai-exposure-index-v1).
- **Overall AI exposure (Felten et al.):** 78th percentile (High) — source: felten_aioe.
- **LLM task exposure, γ (OpenAI / Eloundou):** 70th percentile (High) — source: eloundou_gamma.
- **AI assistant applicability (Microsoft):** 100th percentile (High) — source: microsoft_applicability.
- **Frey–Osborne (2013, historical computerization estimate):** 45th percentile — kept separate from current-era studies.
- **Remote-capable (Dingel–Neiman):** no — task structure, not who actually works remote.
- **Projected employment (BLS 2024–34):** 2.2% growth (About average); 0.3k annual openings; 3.4k → 3.5k jobs.
- **Pay & employment (BLS OEWS, May 2024):** median $74,050; 3,140 employed.

## How people actually use AI here

Anthropic Economic Index — measured AI conversations mapped to this occupation's tasks:

- **Automation vs augmentation:** 49% automation, 45% augmentation (usage-weighted).
- **Autonomy median:** 4.0 (higher = AI acts more independently).
- **Dominant collaboration mode:** directive.

**Tasks most handed to AI here:**
- Organize information for publication and for other means of dissemination, such as use in CD-ROMs or Internet sites. _(32.1% of measured AI use; directive)_
- Conduct historical research, and publish or present findings and theories. _(3.4% of measured AI use; learning)_
- Teach and conduct research in colleges, universities, museums, and other research agencies and schools. _(2.0% of measured AI use; learning)_
- Gather historical data from sources such as archives, court records, diaries, news files, and photographs, as well as collect data sources such as books, pamphlets, and periodicals. _(1.1% of measured AI use; learning)_
- Research the history of a particular country or region, or of a specific time period. _(1.0% of measured AI use; directive)_
- Trace historical development in a particular field, such as social, cultural, political, or diplomatic history. _(0.9% of measured AI use; learning)_
- Research and prepare manuscripts in support of public programming and the development of exhibits at historic sites, museums, libraries, and archives. _(0.8% of measured AI use; directive)_
- Recommend actions related to historical art, such as which items to add to a collection or which items to display in an exhibit. _(0.8% of measured AI use; task iteration)_

**Example prompts (honest phrasings of the tasks above — starting points, not endorsed instructions):**
- Help me organize information for publication and for other means of dissemination, such as use in CD-ROMs or Internet sites.
- Help me conduct historical research, and publish or present findings and theories.
- Help me teach and conduct research in colleges, universities, museums, and other research agencies and schools.
- Help me gather historical data from sources such as archives, court records, diaries, news files, and photographs, as well as collect data sources such as books, pamphlets, and periodicals.
- Help me research the history of a particular country or region, or of a specific time period.

## Sources

- **O*NET** (30.3) — U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS)** (May 2024) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS Employment Projections** (2024–2034) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **Anthropic Economic Index** (v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27)) — Anthropic. https://www.anthropic.com/economic-index
- **Microsoft “Working with AI”** (working-with-ai) — Microsoft Research. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/
- **“GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.)** (arXiv 2303.10130) — OpenAI / academic. https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10130
- **AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE)** (Felten, Raj & Seamans) — academic. https://github.com/AIOE-Data/AIOE
- **Frey & Osborne (2013)** (frey-osborne-automation) — academic. https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/publications/the-future-of-employment/
- **Dingel & Neiman (2020)** (dingel-neiman-workathome) — academic. https://github.com/jdingel/DingelNeiman-workathome

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_Generated from Singulariki's joined dataset; data snapshot 2026-06-02T21:00:32.945303+00:00. https://singulariki.com/roles/role-19-3093-00_