What happened to the work of classical (Greek and Roman) scholars, scientist and philosophers during the Dark Ages? Roman Catholic leaders promoted these works as the basis for a new approach to law.
European scientists established centers of learning where philosophy was also taught.
Islamic scholars translated these work into Arabic, preserving them for later eras.
These works were the only texts taught in schools throughout Western Europe.

explanation: we can only guess at how our actions may be perceived in the future. doing something really big like killing lots of people, saving lots of people, affecting the lives of lots of people is a sure fire way of being remembered in historical records. we can also make a difference in the history records by being a small influence on something bigger, whether that is as a civil servant, scientist or artist.

of course you could argue that we all affect history just as tiny cogs in a   bigger machine.

if you mean how do people influence our opinions of things which have already happened, then simply by writing a book which looks at things form a different perspective and trying to convince people that this perspective is more accurate or truthful. people do it all the time i.e. richard the third was a terrible or was he? plenty would disagree, it's just that their views aren't the most widely known.n:

cultural history is your answer