People tend to automatically think of one thing when they think of historians and history: boring when they first hear about them. Some people may think of a dashing Harrison Ford, who would wear a leather jacket and hat and scare villains away with his whip.
There are times when historians must be brave, but not when faced with villains and their greatest fear, snakes! The researchers must be brave enough to endure the time-consuming, and almost never-ending, research necessary for their chosen historical period or field of study. If you think about endless research followed by endless writing up of your findings, you're likely to lose interest fast. A historian's historic journals or writings after their research don't always read like a novel, as their professors hound them into their minds countless times during their university careers that they should have a certain style of writing if they wish to become historians.
It seems to me that writing should be fun. Why shouldn't a historian write in such a way that it almost feels like they are reading an Indiana Jones novel, where the reader can feel the excitement of their discoveries? My opinion is that there are four qualities that a historian should possess.
The first would be to be able to research to the best of their ability. Research is a vital instrument that historians need to implement when discussing a topic of interest. Even though doing research can be time-consuming, the more information and facts a historian can gather the more valuable tools he or she has. A historian must be able to use those facts fairly, honestly, and justly. Historians rely on more than just a few things they find on the internet to elaborately describe how people or the past were. That's not to say that a historian cannot retell what they uncover in an artistic way to engage their readers.
In ancient times, historians essentially played the role of storytellers. They were efficient and thorough, yet they were also engaging storytellers. To keep their history alive, they recount events vital to their people about their ancestors, reciting the words they were told and passed down through generations.
Our goal as historians today is to uncover the past and tell its story to the best of our ability after extensive research, but we should be able to captivate our audience in the same way Stephen King does with his readers. History is already considered boring by most people, and reading academic journals doesn't always change that. More people may come to appreciate and learn more about history if historians can craft a more artistic and creative narrative, while still following the evidence found in their research.
Passion would be another quality a historian would need to possess. The ability to efficiently research and find quality evidence to back up your theories is essential to having a creative and engaging narrative for your audience, never mind being able to find quality evidence to back up your arguments. Passion for history also enhances your storytelling abilities and helps keep your audience engaged.
Having context in your arsenal of qualities is equally important for historians. Without context, you can't talk about anything, and you need to make your content engaging as well. It is important that you are able to correctly quote other works that have researched the same thing as what you are quoting to teach others about the topic at hand.
These four qualities make for a strong historian who is capable of relaying information they have gathered to be able to correctly, strongly, and passionately discuss their research topic.
