Standard sources of information include the National Archives, the Library of Congress, federal, state and local agencies, university libraries, public libraries, historical societies, and private collections. Obviously, a research assistant can gain significant research experience in a very short time. Research Assistants are generally promoted to research associate within five years of entering the industry. In most public history firms, the research associate is the mainstay of the company. These professionals have a Master's Degree or equivalent experience, usually several years work in their field of endeavor.
Some firms require both experience and a degree to reach the research associate level.
In addition to conducting historical research of all sorts, research associates are often given the opportunity to write for significant publications. Research associates often direct and coordinate the work of research assistants. Archivist - In public history consulting, archivists can serve a variety of functions. One of the archivist's primary functions is to design and administer the document management system for the firm's internal documents. History consulting firms generate thousands of documents per year, divided among dozens of projects, from a plethora of repositories.