National average salary: $83,973 per year
Primary duties: Historians evaluate documents and artifacts from different periods in history to learn about past events and determine their importance today. They use primary sources, or sources of information created during the time period the historian studies, to collect stories, records and other data. These collections help them recognize patterns and gain an understanding of specific time periods. They use their research to help people understand the basis for current events and how events from the past can help people make decisions about the future.