Who is a historian and what do they do? A historian studies the conditions and factors of development of human society, as well as human behaviour and its impact on social systems and groups in the past. A historian explains and clarifies various written or other sources (for instance written sources of all types of works of art, objects found in the soil, forms of settlement, language, social behaviour).
What are the activities of the historian? Se/he may focus on political, economic, social or cultural history. In practice s/he may specialise in a specific area of the disciplines, such as, for instance, classical antiquity, the Middle Ages, the modern age, the present day, but also in demography and other areas.
Where is it done and under what conditions? In libraries or archives, where s/he finds the materials required for his/her work, for instance various official documents and deeds or political documents, but occasionally in the field, at historical sites or buildings.
What tools/equipment do they use? Films, photographic documentation and sound recordings, writing tools and books and documents. S/he closely co-operates with a number of historical support disciplines, such as genealogy, heraldry, but also numismatics, geography, palaeography and other.
What do you need to succeed? You need to complete university studies at a faculty of arts in the field of history, often in combination with other subjects of study (for instance with archaeology, political science), or as part of teacher training in history or other subjects, in combination with languages, philosophy, aesthetics, pedagogy etc.