By Taylor Hefka, Senior Historian
As historians, we have a PR problem. We see it. We’ve seen the eyes glaze over. Movies, television, and even books depict us as unyielding, stuffy, and slow-moving. Our usual costume consists of a tweed jacket with elbow patches in neutrals and earthy plaids with thick-rimmed glasses. Typically, we speak in one of two ways—we are either pretentiously looking down our noses at our audience or whispering shyly. Our characters theatrically gulp at the thought of something that is outside of the library or archive that would push us out of our comfort zone (and into the land of living).
To be honest, it’s comical.
And it is far from the truth—granted, I say this as I adjust my cardigan and push up my glasses that slid down my nose. We are adventurers, poetic writers, strategists, and quiet thrill-seekers. We do what some feel is impossible. So let me take a minute to (re)introduce us.
Let me challenge the on-screen, on-the-page stereotype with a few examples from Hollywood of those that actually describe what we do:
- Indiana Jones in the Indiana Jones franchise
- All eleven in Ocean’s Eleven (2001)
- Mark Watney in The Martian (2015)
- Billy Beane in Moneyball (2011)
- Robert Woodward and Carl Bernstein in All the President’s Men (1976)
- Colt Seavers in The Fall Guy (2024)
Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Archives
“X never, ever marks the spot.”
– Indiana Jones, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
Although there are a number of historical candidates, Earl Halstead Morris is believed to have inspired the creation of Indiana Jones. Together with his first wife, Ann Axtell Morris, he documented archeology in the southwestern United States and Mexico.
Indiana Jones is probably the most obvious comparison. When we hear it, we smile. We have all wanted to be Indiana Jones, purely for the cool outfit and whip. Most people may view us as his father, Henry Jones, Sr.—the stodgy, Latin-reciting, obsessed historian, who wears the usual historian uniform, complete with a Trilby Elgin hat. We are the younger Jones. We are scrappy and figure things out on the fly. We often think things belong in a museum, but we gasp when something that we have once owned is part of the Smithsonian (looking at you, original iPhone!).
Indiana Jones famously said, “If you want to be a good archaeologist, you gotta get out of the library.” For us, most of the time, the good stuff is in the library! It takes time, and nothing is as easy as “X” marks the spot. You haven’t lived if you haven’t turned the page in an archival folder or book and found the exact document or citation you need. In some cases, we go on a grand adventure (even a few research trips—I would love to have a travel montage on a map just once), and our work doesn’t change a thing, but we learn a lot with our research team along the way.
Ocean’s Eleven and Project Management
“Off the top of my head, I’d say you’re looking at a Boeski, a Jim Brown, a Miss Daisy, two Jethros and a Leon Spinks, not to mention the biggest Ella Fitzgerald ever.”
– Rusty Ryan, Ocean’s Eleven (2001)
Danny Ocean and Rusty Ryan manage large projects in all three modern films in the Ocean’s franchise. They manage eleven plus people who have special sets of skills. They work together seamlessly to get the job done.
Granted, the job is a criminal one, but the mechanics are the same. We have large teams that work together in a carefully orchestrated ballet. We have our usual plays, also known as strategies. We employ a combination of strategies to get the job done. They are not called a Miss Daisy or an Ella Fitzgerald, but we have our own shorthand and codenames. When we work on a project, especially one for a long time, we have our own language. We talk about projects as if they were a previous job or past tour of duty with current or former co-workers.
Ocean’s Eleven castmates Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, and George Clooney share a laugh in Adana, Turkey, as part of their promotional tour for the film. They visited military personnel during Operation Northern Watch in December 2001.
The Martian and Problem-Solving Wit
“You can get to work. That’s all it is. You just begin. You do the math. You solve one problem… and you solve the next one… and then the next. And if you solve enough problems, you get to come home.”
– Mark Watney, The Martian (2015)
Granted, as historians, we are not presented with the challenge of trying to get back to earth. One thing we share with Mark Watney is the ability to problem solve. After years of contingency planning, NASA never contemplated that a single person would be left on a deserted planet. Watney and his crewmates deal with years of unplanned space travel. He had to work with what he had available—for food, water, and communication. Sure, there are redundancies and plans, but you can’t prepare for everything. You just keep moving forward.
Sometimes research is not planned. You hit a threshold. You devise a plan where you pull the thread that provides the most promising leads. It could provide the answer, the golden ticket, the perfect document, or the precise picture; in some cases, it doesn’t. We are like Watney because we keep going. If one potential solution or strategy doesn’t work, you move on to the next. We push the envelope to get to where we need to be—to get what you need.
Moneyball and Practical Applications of Academic Work
“This is a process. It’s a process, it’s a process. Okay?”
– Billy Beane, Moneyball (2011)
Moneyball chronicles the Oakland Athletics’ baseball general manager, Billy Beane, during the 2002 season and his attempt to build a competitive team on a shoestring budget. After losing some of their best players, Beane decides to shake up the way they recruit players. Beane focuses on statistics to rate players’ performance, rather than basing recruitment on a player’s looks or overall contributions to the sport.
And it works. He took a seemingly academic topic and approach and applied it to a real-world scenario, ultimately bringing the Oakland A’s to the American League Division Series. Sure, the method didn’t guarantee that they would win the World Series, but the process worked.
We, like Beane, take a seemingly only-for-the-academic process and topic and put it into practice. History is more than just dates and facts, but processes and ways of thinking that are the only strategies to answer a question grounded in history. We work in trial and error and try different ways to get to the end result. It’s a process.
All the President’s Men and Uncovering the Mysteries in Plain Sight
“I can’t do the reporting for my reporters, which means I have to trust them. And I hate trusting anybody… Run that baby.”
– Ben Bradlee, All The President’s Men (1976)
Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein were on the frontlines to uncover one of largest political scandals in U.S. history—Watergate. From 1972 to 1974, Woodstein, as their editors would collectively refer to them, followed leads from the Watergate Hotel break-in in June 1972 and the subsequent court cases and peeled back the layers of a scheme and cover-up which went all the way to President Nixon.
So, our work is not as public as Woodward and Bernstein, and we are not meeting with a potential source or archivist in the parking garage. Yet, we conduct research at the Library of Congress all the time. Going through stacks and stacks of publications and records to find a needle in a haystack? That is our specialty. Following hunches that could potentially lead nowhere, and hoping for a big break? Absolutely. Have we “followed the money” as a research strategy? You betcha. Do we do whatever is necessary to get at the truth—the evidence? Without a doubt. We research topics that could have massive impacts on so many facets in your line of work—you just don’t hear about it often because we don’t have a byline.
Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein used sources like the address book above to connect the dots of the larger cover-up. HH is the initials for Howard Hunt, one of the people who planned the break-in and was a White House consultant. National Archives and Records Administration, United States versus G. Gordon Liddy, Eugenio Martinez, Frank Sturgis, E. Howard Hunt, James McCord, Bernard Barker, and Virgilio Gonzalez.
The Fall Guy In the Background and Making You Look Good
Dan Tucker: But it ain’t about how hard you can hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward.
Colt Seavers: Nah, man! You can’t quote Rocky on me like that!
– The Fall Guy (2024)
Okay, I get it – this might be a stretch, but yes, we can be the “stunt guy.” No, we don’t get lit on fire, jump out of a helicopter, or run through glass. We are in the background braving dust, pests, tetanus, and dehydration to find what you need. We also maintain the mystery for your audience, whether it’s the general population learning about the history of your company or trying to find the document that makes your legal argument. We are behind the scenes. We get in, get out, and celebrate the wins of our discoveries. We bask in it, and then jump into the next job. We are the seamless integration into your bottom line.
Historians, specifically public historians, are malleable, adaptable, and we juggle. We are Indiana Jones–ready and willing to go on adventures to solve problems. We are one or all of those in Ocean’s Eleven, but without the propensity for fraud. We are Billy Beane taking potentially unrelated disciplines and applying them to real situations. We are Mark Watney solving complicated problems one-step at a time. We are Woodward and Bernstein and are relentless in getting to the bottom of the true story. We are the stunt guy who fades into the background and gets the job done.
Unfortunately, most of the films that represent aspects of our work are usually male-centric. (Yes, that is a problem that should be addressed in another essay for another time.) Yet, if you look at our staff page, most of us are women. Gender doesn’t have much to do with it. It’s who has grit, determination, and curiosity, and we’ve got plenty.
Do you know why you don’t hear about us? Well, we hate talking about ourselves. Being in the spotlight? Well, we have done research like those researchers in Spotlight (2015), but the limelight is a bit bright for us.
The great screenwriter Aaron Sorkin does not write our dialogue; nor does the epic composer John Williams pipe in the score of our daily lives (he does frequent our headphones though); and neither does Morgan Freeman narrate our actions. But every day we live a potentially extraordinary script with exciting adventures. Our limitation is only what our client is willing to pay.
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