Historiographer; a new name on American database (8)
I believe the answer is:
annalist
'historiographer' is the definition.
(annalist is a kind of historiographer)
'a new name on american database' is the wordplay.
'new' becomes 'n' (abbreviation as in New Testament NT).
'name' becomes 'n' (common abbreviation e.g. on forms).
'on' says to put letters next to each other.
'american' becomes 'a' (common abbreviation - e.g. in organisation names).
'database' becomes 'list' (list is a kind of database).
'a'+'n'+'n'+'a'+'list'='ANNALIST'
(Other definitions for annalist that I've seen before include "record producer" , "Historian" , "she makes record" , "Chronicler" , "One who makes records" .)