diff -u b/core/modules/history/history.install b/core/modules/history/history.install
--- b/core/modules/history/history.install
+++ b/core/modules/history/history.install
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@
         'description' => 'The type of the entity that was read.',
         'type' => 'varchar_ascii',
         'not null' => TRUE,
-        'default' => 'node',
+        'default' => '',
         'length' => EntityTypeInterface::ID_MAX_LENGTH,
       ],
       'entity_id' => [
@@ -101,7 +101,8 @@
  * Change {history}.nid to {history}.entity_id and add {history}.entity_type.
  */
 function history_update_8801() {
-  $schema = Database::getConnection()->schema();
+  $database = Database::getConnection();
+  $schema = $database->schema();
   $schema->dropPrimaryKey('history');
   $schema->dropIndex('history', 'nid');
   $schema->changeField('history', 'nid', 'entity_id', [
@@ -115,9 +116,15 @@
     'description' => 'The type of the entity that was read.',
     'type' => 'varchar_ascii',
     'not null' => TRUE,
-    'default' => 'node',
+    'default' => '',
     'length' => EntityTypeInterface::ID_MAX_LENGTH,
   ]);
+
+  // Set default value for {history}.entity_type.
+  $database->update('history')
+    ->fields(['entity_type' => 'node'])
+    ->execute();
+
   $schema->addPrimaryKey('history', ['entity_type', 'uid', 'entity_id']);
   $spec = [
     'description' => 'A record of which {users} have read which entities.',
@@ -132,7 +139,7 @@
         'description' => 'The type of the entity that was read.',
         'type' => 'varchar_ascii',
         'not null' => TRUE,
-        'default' => 'node',
+        'default' => '',
         'length' => EntityTypeInterface::ID_MAX_LENGTH,
       ],
       'entity_id' => [
diff -u b/core/modules/history/src/HistoryRepository.php b/core/modules/history/src/HistoryRepository.php
--- b/core/modules/history/src/HistoryRepository.php
+++ b/core/modules/history/src/HistoryRepository.php
@@ -23,14 +23,14 @@
   }
 
   /**
-   * Array of history keyed by entity type and entity id.
+   * An array of history IDs keyed by entity type and entity id.
    *
    * @var array
    */
   protected $history = [];
 
   /**
-   * Database connection.
+   * The database connection.
    *
    * @var \Drupal\Core\Database\Connection
    */
diff -u b/core/modules/history/src/HistoryRepositoryInterface.php b/core/modules/history/src/HistoryRepositoryInterface.php
--- b/core/modules/history/src/HistoryRepositoryInterface.php
+++ b/core/modules/history/src/HistoryRepositoryInterface.php
@@ -65,7 +65,2 @@
 
-  /**
-   * Resets the static cache.
-   */
-  public function resetCache();
-
 }