One of the primary advantages of having a software engineer (or lawyer, for that matter) on staff isn't that they produce software, not exactly. It's that they guide the flow of process, and can adapt the river as needed to keep the business running smoothly.
Historians, imho, serve a similar purpose for society at large. They digest the information of the past to make sense of it for today, and sometimes they build dams that redirect the informational flow of future history.
Historians, imho, serve a similar purpose for society at large. They digest the information of the past to make sense of it for today, and sometimes they build dams that redirect the informational flow of future history.