The Young Turk Revolution was a transforming moment for history writing in the Ottoman Empire, during which it emerged as an academic discipline, attaining its professional standards and principles for the first time. That the beginning of this institutionalization process took place in a revolutionary era, where history itself was fast in the making is an oxymoron. Nevertheless, this process, soon to be deployed in carving out a new formal history of the Empire, had a crucial impact on the formation of a lasting historiographical tradition. One of the most significant developments to this effect was the foundation of the Ottoman Historical Society (Tarih-i Osmani Encümeni) in 1909. The first history association proper in the Ottoman Empire, all of its benefactors were not only elected by the government and financed by the state but also the characteristics of their relations to the state circles determined the nature of history writing and its transformation during this time. Contrary to the history writing practices in the Hamidian era, which canonized loyalty to the sultanate and to Islam, the historiography after the revolution brought forth a notion of history that evoked a common Ottoman identity, with the aim of melting the ethnic, religious and regional differences together within the Empire. This particular understanding of history that emerged in the aftermath of 1908 soon underwent a significant transformation, as the Empire itself was transformed through consecutive wars and other social upheaval. Nevertheless. the nature of the ties that formed at this time, which bonded history writing to the state and the ideological climate it encourages, made its mark on the historical studies. Consequently, in this paper, I seek to explore the institutionalization of historiography in Turkey, which has its origins in the onset of the Second Constitutional Era and had been jointly affected by nation-building and modern state formation processes. Perusing Ottoman Historical Society’s journal (Tarih-i Osmani Encümeni Mecmuas?) and other publications, as well as newspapers and archival material, I attempt to discuss the meanings of institutionalization and professionalization of historiography during a revolutionary era and analyze the contextual shifts in history writing due to the political and ideological transformations.