There are two categories of public historians.

The first, and most widely understood definition of a public historian is a practitioner of public history.

This definition holds that public historians are generally regarded as those people who create history for public consumption; history as digested outside of the academy.

This second definition of public historians has to do with those historians who, within the academy, study the public consumption of history.

In addition, professional historians giving objective expert evidence before courts and tribunals may also be considered as "public historians".

As a public historian, Rush is an expert on modern Southeast Asia.

They were the oral historians of all past transactions, public and private.

"But today the availability of public historians experienced and ready to do litigation support is a fast-spreading secret in the world of law firms."

A national leader in the preservation, interpretation and promotion of history, Glass is a public historian who pioneered influential oral history and material culture studies.

Three key elements often emerge from the discourse of those who identify themselves as public historians: