historians
Recorders of events
Historians are people who study, write about, or are experts in history.
The term usually implies scholarly or professional engagement with the past rather than casual interest: Historians debate whether the treaty actually prevented war.
A historian of science specializes in how scientific knowledge developed.
The word can also describe someone who chronicles events as they happen: She became the unofficial historian of the neighborhood.
Professional researchers and teachers
- researchersThose who study systematically
- professorsHighest-ranking university instructors
- archivistsKeepers of historical documents
- biographersWriters of life stories
chroniclers · antiquarians · classicists · medievalists · Egyptologists · annalists · genealogists · numismatists
Methodical study of parts
- interpretationAssigned meaning
- evidenceFacts supporting truth
- sourcesPoints of origin
- argumentationSystematic reasoning process
objectivity · bias · synthesis · causation · framework · hermeneutics · periodization · narrative
Formal written records
- manuscriptsHandwritten or typed originals
- recordsStored data or albums
- chroniclesSequential historical accounts
- annalsYear-by-year historical account
archives · transcription · paleography · epigraphy · cataloging · papyrus · scrolls · tablets
Study of physical remnants
- civilizationsComplex organized human societies
- empiresExtensive ruled territories
- dynastiesSuccessive rulers from one family
- antiquityGreat age, ancient era
prehistory · ruins · relics · monuments · artifacts · excavation · ancient · classical
Long-established customs passed down
- heritageInherited cultural legacy
- customsTraditional practices or import taxes
- ritualsCeremonial repeated practices
- folkloreInherited cultural narratives
mythology · ceremonies · beliefs · society · identity · memory · commemoration · oral tradition
academics
Professional researchers and teachers
- researchersThose who study systematically
- professorsHighest-ranking university instructors
- archivistsKeepers of historical documents
biographers · chroniclers · antiquarians · classicists · medievalists · Egyptologists · annalists · genealogists · numismatists · philologists
analysis
Methodical study of parts
- interpretationAssigned meaning
- evidenceFacts supporting truth
- sourcesPoints of origin
argumentation · objectivity · bias · synthesis · causation · framework · hermeneutics · periodization · narrative · contextualization
documents
Formal written records
- manuscriptsHandwritten or typed originals
- recordsStored data or albums
- chroniclesSequential historical accounts
annals · archives · transcription · paleography · epigraphy · cataloging · papyrus · scrolls · tablets · correspondence
archaeology
Study of physical remnants
- civilizationsComplex organized human societies
- empiresExtensive ruled territories
- dynastiesSuccessive rulers from one family
antiquity · prehistory · ruins · relics · monuments · artifacts · excavation · ancient · classical · medieval
traditions
Long-established customs passed down
- heritageInherited cultural legacy
- customsTraditional practices or import taxes
- ritualsCeremonial repeated practices
folklore · mythology · ceremonies · beliefs · society · identity · memory · commemoration · oral tradition · symbolism
- Americanspresidents, senators, governors, generals, authors
- notable peoplepoliticians, artists, leaders, writers, scientists
- scholarsscholar, professors, professor, researcher, researchers
- German GreatsBeethoven, Bach, Goethe, Marx, Karl Marx
- Greek writersHomer, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes
- historianschronicler, chroniclers, annalist, annalists, historiographers
historiansfuturists
Predictors of coming developments
futurologists · prognosticators · forecasters · prophets · seers
historiansparticipants
Those actively involved
eyewitnesses · protagonists · contemporaries · witnesses · primary sources
- art historiansScholars of visual culture
- French historianScholar of Gallic past
- military historianScholar of armed conflicts
- court historianSovereign's appointed record keeper
- presidential historian
- family historianOne who researches lineage