BY THE TURN IN TO THE TWENTIETH CENTURY a handful of individuals were writing modern history modern, that is in terms of how it was structured rather than what it covered. One of them was a member of a long-term noble family, while the other was probably a Lao. Both got started writing right at the turn of the century. Both professed a real interest in evidence, though they differed in how they treated it. Phraya Prachakitkorachak (Cham Bunnag, 1864-1907) was indeed a member of the illustrious Bunnag family, and a grandson of Chaophraya Prayurawong (Dit Bunnag), and the son of a half-brother of the eminent Chaophraya Sisuriyawong (Chuang namely Phra Phrommathiban (Chon). He began his education near the Grand Palace in Bangkok, and soon entered the staff of the Supreme Court (San Dika). Having gained the attention of the king's brother, Prince Phichit, he served a brief period in Chiang Mai in 1883-84. By 1886 he was back in Chiang Mai on legal work, and he seems to have begun by this time his habit of studying local Tai languages and writing systems. He had a genuine interest in the people the Siamese termed "Lao" which included both the Mekong peoples and the Tai Yuan of the Chiang Mai and adjacent regions. He was hotly engaged in military conflict with the French in 1893, which gained him promotion to the exalted rank of phraya at the tender age of thirty years in 1894. He spent the remainder of his short life in legal work mostly in Bangkok until his death there at the age of merely forty-three n 1907 Right now, we do not have definite information on all Phraya Prachakit's activities in the North, but it seems likely that among his early duties was looking after the activities of the British s George Younghusband. He may,indeed, have had a role in several plots to interfere with the mission o Younghusband in 1886-1887. We can judge from his early activities that Phraya Prachakit had exceptional language skills and was a quick learner of the cultures and personalities he encountered in the North. At best, Phraya Prachakit may have had only twenty years of adult productivity. However, he wrote quite a lot, especially on the history of the North. He is best remembered for his Phongsauradan Yonok, which began a long publishing history serialized in the magazine Wachirayan in 1898-99. It was based on local manuscripts, most of them either in Tai Yuan language and script, or in Pali. It gained admission to the prestigious Prachum Phongsawadan (Collected Chronicles) in volume 5 published in 1917, long after its author's death in 1907. Many of its points have since been contested, but it has been reprinted countless times, even up to recent years. It is worth noting that few subsequent historians have taken Northern Thai historical sources seriously Phraya Prachakit was not alone. There was a substantial number of his fellow historians by the turn of the century. There were many high-born nobles and princes among them but few could have been as colorful as K.S.R. Kulap, or Kulap Kritsananon (1834 ca. 1913). Like many of his contemporary intellectuals, he was a member of the elite Library Society (which ultimately would be transformed into the National Library). He first gained substantial bibliographical experience, and contact with highly-placed Thai officials and princes, at the centennial exposition celebrating the dynasty's centenary in 1882 Kulap was "crazy" about books, not so much like Khruba Kanchana, but in a way that gave him a sort of power socially that he could not otherwise have gained. Birth did not give him privileged access to power, nor did bureaucratic office Descended from an old noble family perhaps from the Northeast, he had a decent if sporadic monastic education. He had a respectable career through middle age in the Harbor Police, and in various foreign firms, all of which strengthened his language skills. But he made his mark especially as a publisher in his old age, running a periodical called Sayam Praphet. In its pages, and in the separate books he published, he showed a special interest in the history of the great families who so dominated his age. From many he borrowed manuscripts now otherwise lost, from which for example we are given many details of the history of Chinese immigration in the eighteenth century. As an historian, however, Kulap fell considerably short of perfection. He was careless with his sources, which he was embellish. Such carelessness and dishonesty got him into trouble, ultimately in legal charges of which authorities found him guilty in 1901, but refrained from putting him in jail on account of his advanced age. Without really saying so, both Phraya Prachakit and K.S.R. Kulap were through their work saying that the study of history or at least some awareness of the past was especially important to a generation that was rushing headlong into the future. Whether writing Kulap did about old elite groups and ethnic minorities like Chinese, or about regional minorities in the North and Northeast as Phraya Prachakit did, both were expressing their hopes for the social and political inclusion of people who might otherwise get shoved aside.