How many professors should I contact before applying to Graduate School?
I didn’t contact any faculty, and I got into the programs where I was an obvious fit. I didn’t get into any others. Honestly, it did not even occur to me to contact professors. I am not sure this is particularly common in the social sciences and humanities in the US. In my program, only the international students pre-contacted professors.

To check, I would recommend reading “The Professor is In” to lean more about the graduate admissions and hiring process for the humanities.