Not your Typical History Career
Stacey Devlin doesn’t consider herself in a typical history role. The Algoma University’s Honours Bachelor of Arts in History and English graduate works at Know History in the field of Public History, working with new technologies, tracing genealogies, creating documentaries, and more, in an effort to share an accurate portrayal of the past.
Devlin credits her undergraduate and graduate degrees, coupled with a one year internship at NORDIK Institute for helping her land a career with Know History, an Ottawa-based historical consulting company, which opened its doors in 2011. “We help people and organizations with a variety of ‘historical services’, including research, exhibits, reports, genealogy, documentaries and films, social network analysis, mapping, oral histories, and traditional knowledge and land use studies.”
While Devlin herself once planned to follow the traditional trajectory of those interested in history, she is glad she was exposed to the realm of public history and is hopeful others too will consider a future in the growing field. “Public history isn’t always addressed in undergraduate history degrees. I happened across it in my third year, but I didn’t realize historical research companies existed until I was doing my Master’s degree. I’m happy to see this is changing. And I’m very excited to see the History Department at Algoma U offering their first public history course this year. Hopefully it will encourage history students to have a broader understanding of what their degree can do.
“I think it’s important for history students to know that this sort of thing is a career option. I very much respect my colleagues in academia, but there’s a whole other world of history going on outside of universities. Much of the research being done off campus has a direct impact on not only how people approach the past, but also on current policy development, decision making, and quality of life. It’s important for people with a strong history background to be in such positions.”