History is not the past. It is not “what happened.” History happens after that. It is an interpretation of what happened, based on the fragments of information or memory that have survived. Even if the event happened two hours ago, and it happened to you, the history you might record of it is already likely imperfect. It is also potentially very valuable.
Genohistorians must ingest lots of published histories. This is essential to our work. But for our own work to be credible, we must ingest them always with a grain of salt.