early planning for a historical career

[cole]

im on my way to college with a year or two and I know that i want some sort of career in american history or archeology but there is a very limited number of colleges offering classes in those studies around the ohio area. a career as a history teacher would be nice and leaves you summers to hunt all them pointy stones we love so much, but it also means im going be living paycheck to paycheck. does anyone have any careers that you can think of that will allow for some good american archeology and a okay pay? maybe something museum related.
thanks

[joshuaream]

Ask yourself if "doing" archaeology full time is going to make you happier than doing it in your free time. In my case the answer was no. I also realized that I enjoyed collecting (buying and finding) relics, and that is generally not an approved practice for most Archaeologists.

Museum studies can be cool, but it's very competitive and the pay isn't exactly great. If you like museums and want to drive a porsche, check out Conservators and restoration specialists. They are in demand and will continue to be so for years, the pay is much better than archies or history teachers and you get to handle cool relics. Check out the website AIC - The American Institute for Conservation for more information. The conservator-in-charge at a major museum can bring in close to 200k per year and do lots of private projects with private collectors and benefactors of the museum. Starting pay as an assistant conservator used to be around 40 or 50k, not bad coming out of college now-a-days.