American Revolution Historian and Tour Guide

The Revolutionary Story Tour; Boston (MA); On-site; USD 55,104 - 82,656; Part time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible schedule

Part-time work

Seasonal work

Outdoor work

Job summary

The Revolutionary Story Tour in Boston seeks a part-time guide with potential for full-time growth. You’ll lead energetic, historically informed walking tours, engaging diverse guests in an accessible, entertaining narrative about America's founding.

Ideal candidates are passionate, hardworking, intelligent, and friendly, with a strong voice suited to outdoor settings. Availability for peak summer and September/October cruise months is essential, with a flexible schedule and room for growth.

Qualifications

• Passion for history and ability to engage guests
• Background in American Revolution historiography preferred
• Willingness to learn pertinent source material
• Ability to project voice and maintain energy in busy environments

Responsibilities

• Lead Boston walking tours with energetic, humorous narration
• Engage guests of diverse backgrounds and ages
• Balance flexible schedule with peak season demands
• Contribute to development of additional tours and product ideas

Skills

Public speaking

Outgoing personality

Research interest

Clear communication

Education

History background

Job description

The Company:

I have a unique opportunity for a unique personality. I am the creator of The Revolutionary Story Tour, a successful and highly rated walking tour of Boston. (Boston Magazine's Best Historical Walking Tour, Viator Experience Award Winner). We are about halfway through the 2026 season, but I am looking for an additional part-time guide (with full-time potential) to help with increased demand during the rest of this year and beyond.

My mission is to combine the best research and literature on the Revolution with the fun of exploring a new city to give visitors to Boston a high-quality and one-of-a-kind cultural experience. The final product is a comprehensive political, philosophical, religious, psychological, and sociological exploration of America's founding delivered in a very energetic, light-hearted, and humorous narrative.

The job is very demanding, requiring physical dexterity, mental agility, a deep understanding of the history, and an outgoing personality. That being said, once you get it all down, giving the tours becomes that much more fun and fulfilling to share.

I'm looking for somebody hard-working, intelligent, friendly, and passionate.

The Compensation:

Pay will be a combination of hourly wages, tips, and performance incentives.

• $45 / hour.
• Tours can range from 3 to 4.0 hours. The expectation is to only do one tour a day, but in the high season there will be opportunities to double up.
• Tips (on average) between $100 - $150 per tour.
• Year-end profit sharing based on work ethic, customer feedback, and contributions to the bottom line.

The Benefits:

• Work with great people. There are now six of us, and my vision is to create a small team of passionate people that self-regulate and collaborate.
• Meaningful work. This is the formative history of the most influential country on the planet and extraordinarily relevant. Making it accessible and engaging while doing it justice is endlessly challenging and fulfilling.
• Flexible schedule.
• It will be important to be available in the peak/summer season and the cruise months of September and October. A mix of weekday and weekend availability is optimal.
• Outside of that, we can work on which days and times work best for your schedule.
• Part-time work. Enjoy half days. Ideal for students or people with other gigs.
• Seasonal work. Enjoy a long off-season every winter. Go travel.
• Active work. You're outdoors in a beautiful city every day.
• Entrepreneurial atmosphere.
• The immediate need is to take advantage of the current opportunity in the marketplace, but there is going to be ground-floor opportunities to research and develop additional tours, products, and markets and help take the business to the next level.

Educational Background / Academic Expectations:

• The most important qualifications are a passion for the history and a personality the guests respond positively to.
• We have had the most success with candidates who already have a background in and appreciation for the American Revolution and the associated historiography but are willing to familiarize themselves with the pertinent source material.

Physical Requirements:

• You have to have a strong voice and the ability to project over an often-noisy background.
• The tour pace is leisurely, but you have to be physically fit enough to carry a bag of visual aids and maintain a high level of energy throughout.

Personality Requirements:

• Anybody with a highly partisan axe to grind (left or right, then or now) or who cannot be consistent and friendly with visitors from all walks of life would not work out.
• Enthusiastic host to visitors of all persuasions from all countries in all weather conditions.