Digital history is a steadily growing subfield within the historical discipline, and an increasing number of universities establish tenure-track and tenured positions in the field. Molly Taylor-Poleskey joined graduate fellows at the Center for Spatial Textual Analysis (CESTA) for a discussion about the job market in digital history. On April 13, 2016, Molly Taylor-Poleskey joined graduate fellows at the Center for Spatial Textual Analysis (CESTA) for a discussion about the job market in digital history. Molly graduated with a Ph.D. in Early Modern European History from Stanford University and is a fellow at the Humanities+Design lab at CESTA. In Fall 2016, she will be starting an assistant professorship in digital history at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU). Molly will use her expertise in digital humanities, developed at CESTA and beyond, towards setting up a digital humanities research lab and a teaching program at MTSU.
Digital history remains a rare subfield on campuses across the nation. In 2015, digital history was represented in only 5.6 percent of History departments and claimed as a subfield by 0.3 percent of the listed faculty nationwide.
Digital history is, however, a steadily growing subfield within the historical discipline, and an increasing number of universities establish tenure-track and tenured positions in the field. The latest report by the American Historical Association on the state of the job market, which features data for the 2014-15 year, puts digital history at 2.6 percent of all openings in history, with an additional 5.5 percent listing it as a beneficial skill for applicants.
Job openings in digital history, as in any subfield, vary widely, ranging from postdoctoral fellowships to full-time faculty positions and catering towards either teaching or research. Preparing a job application for a digital history position is a highly individualized process, the task made all the more difficult because the expectations of one’s application and the interviewing process are not universally shared and recognized in this young subfield.
Molly completed her doctoral dissertation in History on food culture in Brandenburg-Prussia in the 1640-88 period. She became interested in digital humanities in graduate school, and over the years has contributed to the Mapping the Republic of Letters Project, one of the early and path-setting digital initiatives at Stanford, and consulted on the development of Palladio, an open-source research platform for humanities scholars. She also obtained CESTA’s Graduate Certificate in Digital Humanities.
Molly’s advice to applicants for digital history positions is to gather as much information as possible about the institution that you are applying to and its (usually) newly-created position in digital history. First, learning where the funding for the position comes from may be crucial to understanding institutional goals for the job. It may also clarify questions about the potential for interdisciplinary cooperation, a broader research agenda, and the long-term funding landscape – all critical factors for an emerging initiative in digital humanities. Second, a successful candidate for a postdoctoral position – in any discipline, at any level – often fills a gap in the institutional curriculum and/or contributes to disciplinary or thematic strengths of an institution. Therefore, one must know where their digital research and teaching agenda fit within the existing academic expertise of the university and pitch their skills in digital humanities as an asset to the entire institution.
Molly suggested that creating an academic website may be beneficial for young scholars, especially for those working on spatial and digital projects. Her own website allowed her to present some of her digital and spatial work in a way that she would not be able to convey in textual job applications. Academic websites serve as expanded “digital CVs,” which provide an opportunity to committee members and others to familiarize themselves with one’s research agenda and digital expertise.
Many institutions require both research and pedagogy talks during on-campus visits. Molly found it useful to incorporate different sets of digital skills in both presentations. Her research talk focused on her dissertation project, complemented by digital visualizations that she created. Her pedagogy talk pitched a broad range of digital programs and projects that she became familiar with and involved in while at CESTA.
CESTA has emerged as a nationally and internationally renowned center that prepares its specialists for jobs in digital humanities. It is exciting – if also sad – to see our familiar fellows leave to start new careers and set up their own research and teaching programs in digital history. Thank you for sharing your insights about the academic market and all the best at MTSU, Molly!