Public history uses the past to serve a variety of contemporary needs. It entails the application of the skills and methods of history to the study, management, preservation and interpretation of historical records and artifacts. A public historian is a professional who can put his or her knowledge and skills to use in our society in such diverse activities as museum, historical society or archival work, neighborhood or community history projects, historic preservation and cultural resource management programs, and local, state or federal research projects. Working with architects, librarians, business people, government policy analysts, exhibit designers or history enthusiasts, public historians contribute to our knowledge and understanding of the past.