other options to better the credit history?

How much is your credit score? If you have a good score you can go for unsecured credit cards to build up your credit history. However, if you do not have a good score, you may go for secured credit cards or departmental store credit cards. A score of 680 and above is necessary to get an unsecured card.

i have one secured card.should I get one more? will it help?
my score was a few weeks ago - 665 on TU with Crown and 656 on EX with Crown, do not know how it changed since Crown account was dumped.EQ had no score to provide.

how do I get to 680? I have only a two year old,disputed $158 collection on my files. that's the only derogatory info. Macy's refused me for a card as well as Sears.

Since you already have one secured card, I think you can get one more and use them to improve your credit history. Use these cards to make payments towards your necessities and pay them within the due date. If you continue using these cards for six months to 1 year, I think that you can easily increase your score by 20 to 30 points.
$158 is not a very big amount and so I think that you should contact your creditor, get the debt validated and pay it off, so that the collection gets listed as "paid in full".