Last year I wrote a post called ‘Coming of age in the Humanities,’ reflecting on the state of Australian universities and the rolling restructures and cuts that have become part of academic life.

It is now twelve months since my last fixed term university contract ended (a postdoctoral fellowship with University of Tasmania). Apart from a couple of casual teaching contracts I have spent the past year working as a professional historian and archives consultant.

In that time I have worked on:

  • a large research project for the National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA)
  • a workshop on AI for historians, developed with Deborah Lee-Talbot and Lauren Booker and delivered at UNSW Canberra
  • archives projects with Down Syndrome Victoria, Save the Dandenongs League, the Girls and Boys Brigade, and Camberwell Girls Grammar School
  • an archives and collections project with Coranderrk Aboriginal Station
  • a collections survey for Darebin City Council
  • a computer game under development by Melbourne-based startup Akali Labs
  • the preservation and digitisation of records for a car club and a family archive

Some of these projects are still in progress, and some are likely to develop into further work. I also have a few more projects in the pipeline that I hope will be confirmed soon, along with an announcement about the next phase of the business—stay tuned!

Work has come through a number of channels. I have been contacted through the Australian Society of Archivists and the Professional Historians Association (Victoria & Tasmania), and have received referrals through colleagues and friends. Two of the projects came about after I responded to a LinkedIn post. I was asked to develop the AI workshop because of the State of the Field review essay on digital history I co-authored with Alana Piper; and I was curious to learn that two potential clients used AI themselves to try and find a suitable consultant and landed on me.

For others considering working for themselves, it’s not always easy. Over the year I’ve had periods where the gaps between invoices have been large enough to make cash-flow a concern, and periods where I’ve had so many things happening at the same time I’ve had to work long hours to stay on top of the work. This year there has already been a month where those two things happened simultaneously. But I have also enjoyed being my own boss and exploring opportunities to combine practical advice and support with research-based, theoretical work.

Habits formed while working in academia are hard to break. I still hold unpaid positions on committees and peer review articles for journals. I’ve co-authored a book chapter, and continue working with academic colleagues on an edited anthology that, like many such books, will pay very little (if it pays anything at all); and in the coming months I’m running a workshop for a small honorarium and presenting at a conference free of charge.

But this way of working has its own value. While some of these activities might lead to further work, I’m less interested in return on investment than in building and maintaining relationships with people and communities that have shared interests. As I said in my last post, its about finding ways to keep doing work I think is important, and exploring opportunities to do interesting work with interesting people.

If I keep focusing on that, hopefully the dollars will take care of themselves.