He's the Official Historian for the U.S. Marshals Service: Yes, Virginia...Cool Jobs for History Buffs Do Exist

... So just to be clear this article is not designed to tell you how to find your dream job in five simple steps. I offer no simple self-help explanations to anything here. What I do have to offer is a profile of a man I know who actually does love his job and hopefully his story might serve as a little bit of factual information and inspiration in your day. His name is David Turk and he is the official historian of the United States Marshals Service.

I am sure that just learning that is an actual job got many a history buff out there terribly excited. But wait, there’s more...

The US Marshals Service (USMS) is the oldest American federal law enforcement agency in the country and was created over two centuries ago by the Judiciary Act of 1789. The Marshals Service, apart from having cool badges, is an arm of the executive branch of government, and exists to enforce the rulings of the U.S. federal courts. Beyond that the Marshals Service is the primary agency for fugitive operations, making it responsible for federal prisoner transport, the protection of officers of the court, and for the security and safety of the judiciary. Last but not least, the Marshals Service operates the Witness Protection Program. Pretty awesome, right?

And within the U.S. Marshals Service there exists a division known as the Office of Public Affairs where there is a one-man department staffed by the aforementioned David Turk, who is the official historian of the agency.

Turk did his graduate work in U.S. history at George Mason University and joined the USMS in 1990. Within a year of joining he became the assistant to the first official historian of the service, Ted Calhoun. By late 2001 he was the official historian himself and during his tenure has gotten to conduct official historical writings, archive the historical collections and serve as a liaison to the forthcoming U.S. Marshals Museum opening in Fort Smith, Arkansas. He fields both internal and external historical requests, studies and processes official line-of-duty deaths for memorials, and plans special commemorative events such as some of the special ceremonies for the United States Marshals Service’s 225th anniversary last year.  ...