Glory

Believe it or not, journalists and historians actually have a lot in common. Both review facts, interview eyewitnesses, conduct research, and attempt to tell the whole story without bias. Luckily, though, historians haven't yet resorted to clickbait headlines to interest the general public.

Because their target audience is the broader public, journalists get the kind of glory associated with winning a Pulitzer prize (or, in some countries, a prison sentence). Historians, despite being hugely important for the public understanding of history, usually cater to a more professional crowd with their writing. 

As a result, the glorious prizes they win aren't nearly so well-known outside their own field. On the upside, though, a historian is less likely than a journalist to be thrown in jail by a murderous tyrant. You win some, you lose some.

Glory doesn't have to be life-changing or dramatic. It can affect people in subtle ways. For example, Mary Thompson is a research historian at Mount Vernon Estate—the home of our first President George Washington (oh, so you've heard of him?).

Thompson sifts through voluminous records to supply Mount Vernon with information based on their needs. Who was consulted when they wanted to re-enact Washington's funeral? Thompson. Who supplied the recipe to help Mount Vernon recreate Martha Washington's Christmas cake?

So, Thompson isn't digging up mind-shattering records that forever change the way we look at...whatever it is she's looking at. But she's helping people get a clear view of the leader after whom we named our nation's capital, a state, a bunch of mountains, nine colleges, and over a hundred other places. 

If you're the kind of person who relishes in that research, any results you come up with will seem pretty glorious, indeed.