Everyone is an amateur historian, yes even you. Whether you are aware of it or not, you remember the past, choose signifigant events, and make meaning of those events in light of their present reality. 

We look to history because we desire to find purpose and meaning in the past. And the past, with its bounty of memories and events, is a ready resource. That is all well and good, as long as we know that we are fallible at every step. At every stage we are fallible from how we remember, to the meaning we make of the past, to the application to our current reality. 

Only God is an infallible historian. Only He can rightly, justly, and authoritatively state the meaning and purpose of the past. 

So is there value in looking to the past, even if our historian process and outcomes are fallible? Yes! 

Read this excellent article from Vern S. Poythress to encourage you in your historian work in how to create solid conclusions from the past, even with the understanding of their fallibility.