What is Historiography and Why Should I Care?

A question my students ask me all the time: “What is historiography?” So here it is. Simply put, historiography is the study of historical writing. It explores how historians investigate and reconstruct the past considering their biases, methodologies, and perspectives. They debate interpretations, challenge existing theories, and revise our understanding of the past.

Why should we learn about this stuff? Well, historiography shows that our understanding of the past is not fixed. It evolves over time as new evidence emerges, people ask new questions, and societal perspectives change. The debate can span (in written form) generations. Most important, studying historiography can help students unpack and critically analyze historical texts and appreciate the complexities involved in writing history.

If you want a fantastic example outlining the historiography of the Revolutionary Era, check out this cool TIMELINE put together by scholar Michael Hattem.

I’m a Civil War guy and can discuss this stuff all day long. It is quite fascinating to see how the history of this war has changed so significantly over time. In the end, I think these changes tell us a great deal about the author’s own times and how their perspectives and biases have informed the history.