In the summer of 2020, the Joint Task Force* on Public History Education and Employment released “Career Paths in Public History,” a report on its survey of alumni of Master’s-level programs in public history. Conducted between April 2016 and May 2017, the survey collected information on the careers of public historians who received their graduate degrees between 1985 and 2017. The task force believes it to be the most comprehensive assessment of public careers ever completed. The survey received a total of 1,488 responses, the majority of which came from people who received their degrees since 2007.
- Link here to the report.
- The report also includes three appendices:
- the survey questions,
- the survey data, and
- the comments submitted by respondents.
*The Joint Task Force is a collaborative initiative of the American Association for State and Local History, the American Historical Association, the National Council on Public History, and the Organization of American Historians. The survey of alumni of M.A. programs in public history is the task force’s second major project. The first, a survey of public history employers, was conducted in 2015. A 2017 report, “What Do Public History Employers Want?,” is available here.