What is Historiography?

If someone has a knack for story telling, then it is totally possible to relate an event in the past in an interesting way that will be more than just a recitation of names and dates. A historical event could be told in a dry sort of way as if putting someone to sleep was the intent, or it can be related in such a way that the person listening could not only remember it, but could really identify and relate to the event and the people who were involved. Instead of being the victim, the student or reader can be the beneficiary rather than the victim. I can't really think of any other subject that has the appeal to me that history does. I did not know what the word Historiography meant when I first read it, and I had to read it several times to convince myself that I was pronouncing it correctly. After an introduction to Historiography, I now perceive it to be a pleasantly challenging gallop of discovery and an edifying mental exercise.

The word, Historiography, is a recent immigrant to the shores of my vocabulary and I don't know exactly where it came from, but I am looking forward to uncovering its etymology. I would also like a better grasp of History to be the flying buttress to my writing endeavors, some of which are of a historical nature.

To use an analogy, the concept of Historiography might be similar to someone copying old and valued recipes from an old cookbook that came from someplace in the UK, like Yorkshire, for example. Even if someone from the UK also happened to be present, much of the outdated terminology would be unfamiliar even if the person typing out the recipes also happened to be a cook or chef. These old recipes are not typed, of course, but written on old, yellow and faded pieces of paper, precariously attached to the spine of the cookbook. Of course, the person who is recording all the old recipes into a word processor will have difficulty in not only reading the handwriting, which is written in just the way the originator of the recipes spoke, but in trying to comprehend and record the instructions under the list of ingredients for each recipe. The typist bravely tries their best to produce a concise and clear reproduction of the recipes in the document they are creating that will not confuse any cooks. They are attempting to compile an accurate record of many recipes, or many facts. For example, their endeavors would include not only copying but clarifying them so that they are easily understood once they are rendered in the modern vernacular. Simple cooking instructions for anyone to follow. If pudding is not cooked for too long then it should not burn. It is the job of Historians to also assemble available facts into a coherent, whenever possible chronological record of what actually happened. And sometimes, facts and information are not available. Eventually, the beleaguered writer, or cook who is creating the document realizes that they need a history of the historical documents they have, in this case, recipes. This could come partly from research into the outdated culinary lingo from Yorkshire, and also from different yet perhaps competing theories they may put forward as to what some of the directions might mean in modern English, especially if their search into the culinary lingo of Yorkshire from one hundred years ago does not inform them any further or make them any the wiser for their effort. If this is the case, then it becomes a question of how they or someone else will interpret the recipes. And certainly, there will have already been some interpretation on the part of the typist or cook before this regarding the clarity or lack thereof in the old recipes. And the recipes, unlike modern recipes will eventually involve the typist or cook to at some point going out on a limb and interpreting what so many obscure culinary terms are actually referring to. It begins with what one may expect to be an orderly delineation of facts and information, but eventually it will come down to an interpretation based on the available information, whether it is coherent or not. If there is a lot of information available or just a little, interpretation will inevitably play a role into how that information, that history is viewed. A record of the history in question and interpretation of those records. So far, this has been my understanding of Historiography, and my understanding of it may morph a little as I understand it better in the weeks to come. It is an interesting mental exercise.