The aims of this article are, first, to provide a necessary background to investigate the discipline of history from the knowledge organization (KO) perspective, and secondly, to present, on selected examples, a way of analyzing knowledge organization systems (KOSs) from the point of view of the theory of history. The study includes a literature review and epistemological analysis. It provides a preliminary analysis of history in two selected universal Polish KOSs: KABA subject headings and the National Library of Poland Descriptors. The research is restricted to the high-level concept of historiographical metaphors coined by Wojciech Wrzosek and how they can be utilized in analyzing KOSs. The analysis of the structure of the KOSs and indexing practices of selected history books is performed. A particular emphasis is placed upon the requirements of classical and non-classical historiography in the context of KO. Although the knowledge about historiographical metaphors given by Wrzosek can be helpful for the analysis and improvement of KOSs, it seems that their broad character can provide the creators only with some general guidelines. Historical research is multidimensional, which is why the general remarks presented in this article need to be supplemented with in-depth theoretical and empirical analyses of historiography.