Museum visits can be a lot of things: an educational opportunity, an alternative to watching TV, an up close encounter with history, or just a way to escape the house during a wet, dreary day. But whatever your reason, a museum visit should be worth the money and the trip – the average cost of museum admission is between $11 and $25 dollars, plus an extra cost for special or interactive exhibits. So what’s the best plan for making the most of a visit? (more…)
From heroes to womanizers and from intellectuals to dandies, the U.S. presidency is filled with a history of eccentric behaviors and many “firsts.” Many presidents were born in log cabins, and it wasn’t until Jimmy Carter came along that America had its first president who was born in a hospital. Not all presidents are mentioned here, but the list starts with George Washington, the first and only president to win by unanimous vote, and ends with Bill Clinton, a controversial president who still left office with the highest end-of-office approval rating of any U.S. president since World War II. (more…)
Any student of history knows that there is a great deal to be learned from those who have gone before. And, of course, there is much to be learned from the histories of other countries. Many civilizations have risen and fallen in the thousands of years since humans have been interacting with each other, and it makes for compelling stories, ancient as well as modern. If you are interested in being a master of history, you can get a start with these 50 great world history blogs: (more…)
History is a fascinating field of study. It has many different specialties, from studying the history of music or art to becoming an expert in the history of a particular country or place. But, what careers are history majors suited for? Well, the truth is that history majors wind up in many different fields. It does seem, however, that more of them end up as teachers of some sort than any one other given area. We’ve compiled 20 videos from YouTube that depict some of the jobs held today by history majors.
- Jobs for History Majors: Learn from St. Francis College the many career paths taken by history majors.
- Jan Schlictmann: Check out this Civil Action attorney. Attorneys are often history majors in their undergraduate years.
- National Museum of National History: Check out the National Museum of National History. Working at a place like this assisting visitors is a great job for history majors.
- Gil Vega: Gil Vega, a middle school history teacher, talks about his job. Many history majors become history teachers.
- A Day in the Life of a History Teacher: See what the history teacher’s day is like.This one is pretty cute.
- Art History: Check out the work of an expert in art history. This expert discusses Diego Rivera’s paintings.
- Carlos Navarra: Navarra is an expert in art history. Learn what such experts do.
- Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum: Hear from the executive director of this historical museum. Museum Executive Director is a great job for a history major, especially if you have an advanced degree.
- 10 Questions for Neil DeGrasse Tyson: Tyson is the director of Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History. He talks about physics and his job.
- The American Diner Museum: Check this place out – wouldn’t you love to be the Executive Director here?
- UWSP Museum of Natural History: Learn about the UWSP Museum of Natural History.
- Non profit Jobs: Learn about jobs in the non-profit field, one that is very popular with history majors.
- Executive Jobs in Non-Profit: Learn about getting an executive job in the non-profit field.
- History Comes Alive with the Night Watchman: This guy has a great job. He teaches people about the history of the nightwatchman job. He gets to play with all the historical toys and weapons as he teaches people about the past. His title is official historian of Bamberg.
- Oklahoma Football’s Official Historian: Oklahoma Football’s official stat keeper and historian speaks. What a great job if you love history and football. This guy started as a fan.
- The Secret UFO Files: This video was put together in part by the CIA’s official historian.
- Jean Seaton: What is the BBC For? This information comes from Jean Seaton, the official historian of the BBC.
- Chicago Tribune: Interview with David Fletcher, the proposed founder of the proposed Chicago Baseball Museum. Learn about Fletcher’s great job and about Jerome Holtzman, who was once the official historian of Major League baseball.
- Video of Pat Schroeder: This video pays tribute to Pat Schroeder, a former member of ths US House of Representatives. This video was part of a tribute to Robert Remini, the official historian of the house.
- Smithtown History: Learn about the history of Smithtown, from the town’s official historian, Brad Harris.
As you can see, there are lots of ways to use your history degree, though some of them might not seem like they relate as much to your field of study. If you really want one of the plum jobs in the history field, like being the curator or executive director at some sort of history museum, it’s important to consider your area of specialty well.
Specialties in history can be very precise, and it is often those with the most expertise in the most precise areas that get the best jobs. So, if there is an area of history that you love, specialize in that area and take your education in that area as far as you can go. There won’t be hundreds of jobs that appreciate your vast knowledge in your area, but you’ll be qualified for the very best jobs in that field.
Importance of history can be understood from the fact that it helps us to understand the present. It provides incredible perspective for a number of reasons. People have largely neglected the power of history. With understanding of history, you know about the basic concepts and ideas. You there can learn about cause and effect, relationships and human nature. History helps us to create co-relation with event or action. It clarifies how things are related to each other. Ample knowledge of history let people to know about attitudes and feelings as resulting from an action.
History is not merely a summation of previous events, but instead its purpose is to show reasons for why and how these events happened and give perspective to pain, breakthroughs, war, associated with them. It tells that how explorers reached out and started sharing culture.
By making us more cognizant of how we got to this point, it teaches us how to continue to approach things in manners that work and refrain from committing a mistake repeatedly. History should help us learn lessons from our ancestors’ past mistakes. All you have to do is pick it up and read the best advice of all- the advice from experience.
When history is learned, the perspective of different countries and civilizations can be rediscovered. In most of the cases the custom and culture of a country can only be understood by first researching how they came about. As a result, it becomes much more integral for a person to know about their country’s culture, customs, and relations with other countries, as well as beliefs and attitudes about those places. This all they can only learn only after having ample knowledge in their village. The history of a country tells how it developed from phase to phase and survived despite all the odds and adversities that come about.
Knowing the history of a country tells about culture and ethnic diversity as to know its role. History helps in understanding that our position internationally, as a country, depends on the sacrifices made by our elders to make it how it is today. It helps in understanding our laws, as well as biases that develop. Without any understanding of history, no one can easily make any reference to these things.
The knowledge of a country’s history helps in a greater way as making any major decision or being a participant of any huge referendum exercise. Knowing about that country’s past and how it has reacted before could mean the difference between a victory and all out war. History of our country is an ingrained part of each of us.
History as a subject is known as method to study human past and people who tells about history known to be as historians. It is a field of research that uses a narrative to examine and analyze the sequence of events. Below are mentioned some important resources related to history for extensive study of the subject.
- Institute of Historical Research: Founded in 1921 by A. F. Pollard, it is an important meeting place for researchers around the globe. It offers a state of the art open access library, conferences and seminars which are open to the public, the history lab and resources for historical research in both digital format and print.
- British History Online: Developed by the Institute of Historical Research and History of Parliament Trust, British History Online is the digital library containing some of the core printed primary and secondary sources for the medieval and modern history of the British Isles.
- World History: The Center for History and New Media (CHNM) at George Mason University with the financial help from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation to create World History Sources. It focuses towards three areas like current world history scholarship, an emphasis on comparative issues contrary to civilizations alone and concentration on contacts among different societies and the economic, social and cultural consequences.
- Hyper History: It is an exhaustive scientific project showcasing world history of 3,000 years with perspective of synchronoptic lifelines, timelines, and maps. In narrative it has expanded from rather simpler to more complex and complicated nature and behavior.
- History Link: It is a resource site for World History Classes and is divided into six categories like art, biographies, daily life, maps, pictures and research. Presently, it has the cultures/time periods of Prehistory, Africa, China, Egypt, Greece, Aztec, Mayan, Olmec, Native Americans, Mesopotamia, middle Ages and World War II with the aim to cover the entire scope of World History.
- Www-vl history central catalogue: This site is the World Wide Web Virtual Library History Central Catalogue is maintained by Serge Noiret at the European University Institute, Florence, Italy and provides all the best information and data on the topic and issues related to world history.
- World History Matters: It is a world portal to world history websites developed by the Center for History and New Media. It is a resource center designed to help high school and college world history teachers to have better understanding of history with reference to locate, analyze and learn from online primary resources
- History Guide: The History Guide has been prepared for the high school and undergraduate student who is either learning in history, or have desire to do major in history from a college. The basic utility and purpose of this History Guide is to better oneself for better equipping with history classes and to have time in history classes more enjoyable and proficient.
Online Master of History programs offer advanced knowledge on historical events and provide avenues to enable historians analyze information obtained from various levels of research. They are offered in different specializations areas such as era, region and events. The program is designed for those who have restricted schedules and are unable to commit to campus-based studies as it enables them to complete it from any location using web-based technology and in-depth internet research to enhance their experience.
Just like Campus-based master of History programs, online History programs focus on the examination, analysis and research of theoretical concepts and impact of various events on the human society. It also helps students gain analytical skills for investigation and accurate reporting that will enable them have an understanding of different cultures and regions. Common online Master of History programs include Modern World, The Crusades, Visual Arts, Roman and Egyptian Cultures and much more.
An online master of History program requires two years to complete. Course hours depend with the program taken by a student though most of them have a maximum of hours of course work. With this degree the learner can get into various fields like teaching, working at a museum, researcher, writer of historical materials and as a corporate historian. It requires at least a semester of internship and may also require additional research projects or work-study components.
Many colleges offer online Master of History programs and most of them require the participation of the learner in discussion groups, review of video presentations and conferences. The learner downloads course materials and lectures which is accessible throughout and accesses libraries and databases at times that is convenient to them and uses emails and bulletin boards to submit their assignments. It offers a learning environment which is independent and whose pace can be set by the individual.
For those looking for Online Master of History programs, ensure that the online program has been accredited by the national or regional accreditation bodies as this determines the quality of the program in terms of competitiveness in the job market. Most of the online sites offer flexibility and ease of use but with varied rates. Look for sites that offer accessibility, support for the students and the faculty, assessment and evaluation capability as well as information and learning resources such as libraries.
Determine the field of specialization before venturing to look for an online program since different online universities offer different areas of specialization. Other Masters degree programs are designed for those who are working or who already have college credits while others allow students to Personalize their study plans to enable them meet their goals and fulfill their degree requirement. Thesis and non-thesis programs are also available but for those with future plans of pursuing a doctorate the thesis program is recommended.
