undergradly.
Major · Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies

History meets language and literature: an interdisciplinary humanities track

History and Language/Literature (CIP 30.4501) braids historical research with language study and literary analysis of one or more regions. The major is rare in federal data, with only 317 completions across 4 institutions, and most of that volume sits at a single community college. Bachelor’s programs typically prepare students for graduate school, teaching, or generalist humanities work.

Schools offering
4
Annual completions
317
Typical degree level
Associate's + Bachelor's
Median earnings (5yr)
—

About this major

History and Language/Literature is an interdisciplinary humanities program that fuses historical research with the literary and linguistic study of one or more countries or regions. The CIP definition (30.4501) frames it as a synthesis of historiography, historical research methods, linguistics, philology, and period-specific cultural study. Students learn to read primary documents in a second language, then build research that treats history and literature as one continuous record of how a culture thought about itself. Coursework leans on seminars, long papers, and sustained foreign-language work rather than labs or quantitative methods.

The major fits students who like dense reading, careful argument, and the patience to learn a language well enough to use it as a research tool. It rewards comfort with ambiguity, since literary and historical interpretation rarely resolves to a single right answer. Students drawn to graduate school, law, library science, secondary teaching, museum and archive work, or generalist humanities careers tend to get the most leverage from the breadth.

The field is small in federal data and concentrated in unusual ways. Across just 4 reporting institutions, total completions sit at 317 per year, and a single community college — Modesto Junior College in California — accounts for 315 of those, all at the associate level. Averett University reports the only meaningful bachelor’s output at 2 completions, while St Lawrence University and Clovis Community College show none in the most recent year. The named BLS destinations include secondary school teachers at $64,580, interpreters and translators at $59,440, historians at $74,050 (master’s required), and three postsecondary teaching lines that all require a doctorate; the scarcity here reflects administrative grouping, since most students doing this work are filed under broader named CIPs like History, English Literature, or Foreign Languages and Literatures.

Section 3 · Careers

Where this major leads

Occupations most often associated with this major, from the federal BLS+O*NET crosswalk. Job-growth projections and median wages are national.

Occupation Median wage Job growth Typical education
Managers, all other $137k +4.5% Bachelor's degree
Secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education $65k -1.6% Bachelor's degree
Interpreters and translators $59k +1.7% Bachelor's degree
Foreign language and literature teachers, postsecondary $77k -0.2% Doctoral or professional degree
History teachers, postsecondary $82k -0.2% Doctoral or professional degree
Area, ethnic, and cultural studies teachers, postsecondary $84k +2.4% Doctoral or professional degree
Historians $74k +2.2% Master's degree
Section 4 · Earnings

Earnings at a glance

Median graduate earnings from the federal College Scorecard, 5 and 10 years out.

Earnings data is not yet available at this major's level of granularity. See the concentration hub for family-level figures.

Who this major is for

You may thrive here if you enjoy reading deeply across disciplines and tying a culture’s history to the texts that culture produced, you are willing to commit to a foreign language until you can use it as a research tool, you are heading toward graduate school in history, literature, library science, or an MAT in secondary teaching, you have an early eye on law school where the LSAT rewards close reading and tight argument, or you want a humanities bachelor’s that signals interdisciplinary range to admissions committees rather than a single named track.

Think twice if you want a defined entry-level job straight out of undergrad, since the bachelor’s rarely points to one and the closest direct destination — secondary school teaching at $64,580 — projects negative 1.6 percent job growth and usually requires an extra year of state certification. Three of the seven named careers in the packet require a doctorate (history, foreign-language, and area-studies postsecondary teaching) and historian at $74,050 requires a master’s, so the higher-paid academic destinations sit behind years of additional schooling. The cohort is also tiny: 317 completions across 4 institutions means almost no peer network on most campuses, and the bachelor’s-level work is concentrated at a single school (Averett University) producing 2 graduates a year. Look at the named History (54.0101), English Literature (23.0101), or Foreign Languages (16.0101) CIPs first if you want a larger department, more course options, and a clearer recruiting pipeline.

Section 6 · Where to study

Top colleges for History and Language/Literature

Ranked by annual completions at the associate's or bachelor's level — a proxy for program scale.

College Location Assoc. Bach. Total
Modesto Junior College Modesto, CA 315 0 315
Averett University Danville, VA 0 2 2
St Lawrence University Canton, NY 0 0 0
Clovis Community College Fresno, CA 0 0 0
Section 7 · Explore sideways

Related majors to explore

Political Science and Government, General

36,654 completions/yr

English Language and Literature, General

26,983 completions/yr

History, General

22,597 completions/yr

Economics, General

18,920 completions/yr

Social Sciences, General

14,846 completions/yr

Spanish Language and Literature

4,864 completions/yr

Foreign Languages and Literatures, General

1,740 completions/yr

Linguistics

1,672 completions/yr
Section 9 · Frequently asked

Common questions

What do History and Language/Literature majors actually study day-to-day?
Coursework moves between historiography seminars, foreign-language sequences, and close reading of literary texts tied to specific countries or regions. Students learn to handle primary documents in at least one second language, then weave history and literature together in research papers. Most programs expect a capstone that draws on philology, linguistics, and period-specific cultural study, as the CIP definition spells out. Daily work tends to be reading-heavy, writing-heavy, and discussion-driven rather than lab- or studio-based.
Do I need a bachelor’s, or is an associate’s enough for this major?
Both degree levels exist in the data, with the associate’s actually accounting for the bulk of completions. Modesto Junior College alone reports 315 associate-level completions, while Averett University reports just 2 bachelor’s graduates. An associate’s can serve as a transfer launchpad, but the named bachelor’s-level careers in the packet — interpreter at $59,440, secondary teacher at $64,580, historian at $74,050 — all expect a four-year degree at minimum. Plan to transfer if your goal lies past the language-and-history breadth of the two-year program.
What jobs do graduates with this major actually get?
The bachelor’s rarely points to one defined occupation, which pushes graduates toward editorial, library, museum, archive, nonprofit, and teaching-prep work. The packet names secondary school teachers at $64,580, interpreters and translators at $59,440, and historians at $74,050, the last of which requires a master’s. Three postsecondary teaching destinations also appear — history, foreign language and literature, and area studies — each requiring a doctorate and each projecting flat or negative job growth. The Managers, all other line at $136,550 reflects a long-horizon mid-career outcome after years of industry experience, not an entry-level role.
Why does this major show only 317 completions nationwide?
Most universities file students who do this work under the broader named CIPs — History (54.0101) at 22,597 completions, English Language and Literature (23.0101) at 26,983, or Foreign Languages and Literatures, General (16.0101) at 1,740. The 30.4501 code captures only programs that explicitly brand themselves as a History-plus-Language/Literature hybrid. Even within the four reporting institutions, a single community college (Modesto Junior College) accounts for 315 of 317 completions. The scarcity is administrative grouping, not a signal that the academic content is rare on real campuses.
Is this a good pre-law or grad-school major?
The major rewards close reading, dense argument, and the synthesis of evidence across sources, which lines up with what the LSAT measures and with what graduate humanities programs look for. Bachelor’s graduates often pursue an MA, MLIS, MAT, or PhD before entering library, archive, museum, or teaching careers. Of the seven careers in the packet, three require a doctorate and one requires a master’s, so the long-term ceiling depends heavily on a graduate credential. As a pre-law track, the breadth signals the same generalist humanities profile that admissions committees have historically rewarded.
How is this different from straight History or English Literature?
History, General (54.0101) at 22,597 completions stays inside historical method, with one or two language requirements at most. English Language and Literature, General (23.0101) at 26,983 sits inside one literary tradition, often with limited historical context outside it. Foreign Languages and Literatures, General (16.0101) at 1,740 puts the language and its texts at the center, with history as background. History and Language/Literature deliberately combines all three lenses around one country or region, treating them as inseparable in the way the CIP definition describes.