How to become an Archivist
Most archivists get hired on the strength of collections they've already processed, not the degree on the wall. The degree still matters, because a lot of postings screen on it. What gets you past the committee is proof you've boxed, described and made findable a real pile of someone else's paper.
What the job is once the romance wears off
You'll spend less time with rare letters than you'd guess and more time with acid-free folders, accession forms and a spreadsheet of box locations. A donor drops off a wall of cartons from a retired professor's garage, and your job is to decide what's worth keeping, put it in an order someone else can follow, and write the finding aid that lets a researcher find one memo without opening every box. The work is slow and cumulative. Some people love that. Others find the backlog crushing, because every archive has more unprocessed material than staff, and it never really shrinks. You also say no a lot: to donors who want everything kept, to researchers who want to take originals home, and to colleagues who think the archive is a storage room.
Doors into an archives job
A library science master's with an archives track
This is the route most hiring committees expect. Pick an MLIS or MSIS program that offers courses in arrangement and description, records management and digital preservation, and take the practicum seriously. The practicum is where you'll process a collection from start to finish and come out with a finding aid you can link on your résumé. Programs that let you work in the campus special collections while you study are worth more than a slightly bigger name.
A history master's plus hands-on processing work
Plenty of archivists come from history, especially in university special collections and historical societies. The subject knowledge helps you appraise and describe material in context. The gap is technical: you'll need to learn DACS, EAD and a collections system like ArchivesSpace on your own or through workshops from the Society of American Archivists. Close that gap before you apply, or committees will read you as a researcher rather than a processor.
Starting as an archives or library technician
Technician and archives assistant roles hire without the master's in a lot of places. You'll rehouse folders, scan photos, answer reference emails and enter data into the catalog. After a stretch of that, you'll know the systems better than some new graduates. Many people in this route finish the degree part-time while working, and the employer sometimes helps pay for it.
Coming over from records management or IT
Corporate, government and university records offices need archivists who understand retention schedules, email capture and file formats. If you've run a records program or managed a document system like SharePoint or OpenText, you can move toward a digital archivist or records archivist role. Pair that background with a short course in digital preservation and learn tools like Archivematica and BitCurator.
Words archives postings keep using
Hiring committees and applicant systems often scan for the exact standard or tool name, so write DACS rather than descriptive standards and ArchivesSpace rather than collections software.
The part of the hiring process people underestimate
Archives hiring moves slowly and often runs through a search committee, especially at universities and government agencies. Expect a phone screen, a longer campus or office visit, and sometimes a presentation on how you'd handle a messy collection. Committees read cover letters closely here, more than in most fields. Tailor each one to that repository's holdings. Mentioning that you looked at their finding aids and noticed an unprocessed collection that matches your background is the kind of detail that lands. Relocation comes up too, since openings are spread thin and many people move for their first permanent role.
Make your processing work visible on a résumé
Assisted with processing archival collections and helped researchers in the reading room.
Processed 45 linear feet of university faculty papers to DACS, wrote an EAD finding aid published in ArchivesSpace, and cut reference retrieval time for the collection from days to under an hour.
What Archivist postings ask for
Hiring the most
- "ProSidian Consulting, LLC"5
- Accenture1
- Accenture Federal Services1
- barnard.wd1/Staff1
- CompassGovernmentSolutionsLLC1
Remote
5% of openings are fully remote.
Posted pay
$78,000 – $92,564.06
Typical range in the 11 of the newest 37 postings that list pay.
Questions people ask
Do I need a master's degree to be an archivist?
For most permanent archivist titles, yes, or the posting will list it as preferred and treat it as required. An MLIS with archives coursework is the usual one, and a history master's is often accepted alongside archives experience. You can get into technician and assistant roles without it, and some smaller historical societies and companies care more about what you've processed than your transcript.
Is it hard to find an archivist job?
It's competitive, mostly because openings are spread across the country and many are term or grant-funded. People who are willing to move, who take a project archivist contract to start, or who bring digital skills tend to land faster. Your first permanent role is usually the hardest one to get.
What's the difference between an archivist and a librarian?
A librarian mostly works with published material that exists in many copies and is organized item by item. An archivist works with unique records, like letters, minutes, photos and files, and organizes them by who created them and how they were kept. That's why archivists write finding aids for whole collections instead of cataloging single books.
Ready to apply?
Tell HeroApply you want Archivist roles. It finds the openings and applies for you each day.