Member Review Civil War magazines

[Lincoln56]

We have a few forum members old enough to have subscribed to Civil War History published quarterly by The State University of Iowa. I have purchased used copies but was not really old enough to subscribed to it before Kent State university took over publishing it. I have purchased used copies of the Kent State Civil War History when I see a used copy that has article I find interesting. I forget the price to subscribe to the Kent State published version, but it was a bit steep for me. Does anyone get the Kent State version?

There was also the Civil War Magazine of the Civil War Society and Civil War Quarterly neither of which I subscribed to. I do see some used copies of these at used book stores.

I believe Virginia Country's Civil War magazine became Civil War Magazine of the Civil War Society. Virginia Country's Civil War was published quarterly in the early 1980's, I believe 1983 through 1987 though I could be off on the ending date. Kent Masterson Brown was the editor. Civil War Magazine of the Civil War Society was published until 1997 when Volume 1 North & South became the official magazine of the Civil War Society. N & S was published until 2013 under Keith Poulter and is now reincarnated as Volume 2 North & South. These magazines are available individually on after market sites such as ebay and Amazon. Not sure if complete sets are being sold by any aftermarket seller.

As far as Kent State Civil War History, it is published quarterly and currently is going for:

Civil War History Rates

		Print	Online	Print + Online
Institutional	1 year	$90.00	$150.00	$180.00
Individual	1 year	$60.00	$60.00	$90.00
Student	1 Year	$30.00	$30.00

 

[dlavin]

I think I get Civil War Times. I find it a good read every quarter

 

[Lubliner]

I don't know if this was once a magazine, but recently I came across the 'Southern Historical Society' in a 52 volume set, all in excellent condition for $300 dollars. It caught my attention, and I would definitely like to hear some remarks about this complete set. Is it worth $300 dollars? I bought the CWTI set of 20 volumes for $400 dollars about ten years ago.
Lubliner.

 

[major bill]

I don't know if this was once a magazine, but recently I came across the 'Southern Historical Society' in a 52 volume set, all in excellent condition for $300 dollars. It caught my attention, and I would definitely like to hear some remarks about this complete set. Is it worth $300 dollars? I bought the CWTI set of 20 volumes for $400 dollars about ten years ago.
Lubliner.

My first question would be do you own a copy of the 'Southern Historical Society' or ever looked one over? My second question would be if you do own a copy or have looked over a copy, what did you think of the magazine? You are paying what about $5.75 per copy? I have a few copies of the magazine for which I paid around $25 each for later issues and purchased earlier issues for around $30 for a full year (4 issues). So to me you are getting a great deal but only if it is a magazine you want to own. Copies of The 'Southern Historical Society' are difficult to find

My next point is that over the years the magazine improved. The early issues were all right and had some interesting articles but were fairly short and not well reproduced and were basically society newsletters where members summited articles. Later the issues were much better reproduced and usually contained a black and white flag plate with drawings and descriptions and every issue had a uniform plate of a Southern unit with uniform description. So if you are in to Confederate flags and Confederate uniforms you will be pleased.

For other members here is a scan of the cover of an issue from 1990.

This is a fairly normal issue of the magazine ca. 1990s. This issue is 85 pages long and covers Charleston under fire with 14 black and white etchings. Civil War landmarks in Great Britain with 3 illustrations. An article about John Wilks Booth. A uniform plate showing 8 uniforms of the regular army of South Carolina. A Confederate flag plate. Tow pages of Society news with announcements of current Civil War news events. And lastly an article about Confederate imported British lion belt plates with 5 drawings of these.

If one owned the entire set they would probably have 200 black and white illustrations of Confederate uniforms, perhaps 100 black and white illustration of Confederate flags, and a great many articles about the Confedercy.

 

[Lubliner]

My first question would be do you own a copy of the 'Southern Historical Society' or ever looked one over? My second question would be if you do own a copy or have looked over a copy, what did you think of the magazine? You are paying what about $5.75 per copy? I have a few copies of the magazine for which I paid around $25 each for later issues and purchased earlier issues for around $30 for a full year (4 issues). So to me you are getting a great deal but only if it is a magazine you want to own. Copies of The 'Southern Historical Society' are difficult to find

My next point is that over the years the magazine improved. The early issues were all right and had some interesting articles but were fairly short and not well reproduced and were basically society newsletters where members summited articles. Later the issues were much better reproduced and usually contained a black and white flag plate with drawings and descriptions and every issue had a uniform plate of a Southern unit with uniform description. So if you are in to Confederate flags and Confederate uniforms you will be pleased.

For other members here is a scan of the cover of an issue from 1990.
View attachment 394891

This is a fairly normal issue of the magazine ca. 1990s. This issue is 85 pages long and covers Charleston under fire with 14 black and white etchings. Civil War landmarks in Great Britain with 3 illustrations. An article about John Wilks Booth. A uniform plate showing 8 uniforms of the regular army of South Carolina. A Confederate flag plate. Tow pages of Society news with announcements of current Civil War news events. And lastly an article about Confederate imported British lion belt plates with 5 drawings of these.

If one owned the entire set they would probably have 200 black and white illustrations of Confederate uniforms, perhaps 100 black and white illustration of Confederate flags, and a great many articles about the Confedercy.

No, I am not sure we are talking of the same publications. It is the Southern Historical Society Papers that were first published in the late 19th Century. Founded in 1868-1869, documenting military and civilian views on the war. Supposed to be 52 volumes of articles from soldiers, officers, politicians, and civilians, and is a reprint that is dated from 1977 to 1980 "The History of the War-Time South by Various Authors" is what the classified ad claims. It shows a picture of page Volume 1, stating January to June 1876. It is a Kraus Reprint. Thanks for the help. It may be the same ones. I have not seen one of them. Possibly I can find some on-line to browse.
Lubliner.

 

[dahenry]

I have the first five volumes of the Krauss reprints from 1977 which were produced approximately a hundred years after the originals from the Virginia Historical Society. Can't remember how much each copy cost, what I do remember is that the page count went progressively lower and lower with each volume; the first book contained 497 pages, the last one 304. I stopped buying them after that.

 

[Lincoln56]

No, I am not sure we are talking of the same publications. It is the Southern Historical Society Papers that were first published in the late 19th Century. Founded in 1868-1869, documenting military and civilian views on the war. Supposed to be 52 volumes of articles from soldiers, officers, politicians, and civilians, and is a reprint that is dated from 1977 to 1980 "The History of the War-Time South by Various Authors" is what the classified ad claims. It shows a picture of page Volume 1, stating January to June 1876. It is a Kraus Reprint. Thanks for the help. It may be the same ones. I have not seen one of them. Possibly I can find some on-line to browse.
Lubliner.

As stated by Lubliner, these were first published as magazines and later combined into hardcover books, of which there have been a few reprint sets over the years. One complete set currently on Amazon is going for $1,975.00. I'm sure these are available on sites like ebay. These might be available on the Internet Archive though I haven't looked.Complete sets are also available on CD-ROM for $14.95 from various vendors. The CD-ROM price makes the content more user friendly to my pocketbook.

I'm sure this site has discussed Confederate Veteran Magazine edited by S.A. Cunningham from 1893 through 1932. Some hardcover reprint volumes are available bound by year though these are scarce. I got a couple from Morningside books back in the day. Some individual magazines are available on Internet Archive or in rare book stores. There are CD-ROM's available for the complete set as well.

Does anyone own or have read the Southern Bivouac books? If so, whhat is your impression? This was a magazine published between 1882 and 1887. It contained articles written by southern officers. Some consider this along with the Southern Historical Society Papers to be the origins of the "Lost Cause movement". The magazine was sold to the Century company in 1887 so I imagine some of the content may have ended up in Battles & Leaders of the Civil War. Southern Bivouac was reprinted by Broadfoot Publishing in 1993 in 6 volumes and is also available on the Internet Archive.

 

[tmorr]

I used to get 3-4 mags at any given time. The only one where I've kept my subscription current is North South Trader's Civil War. It's a beautiful magazine from a design standpoint and I've learned, and continue to learn, a lot about different areas of collecting, artifacts and ACW history. I don't blink about paying the subscription.

 

[Lincoln56]

I used to get 3-4 mags at any given time. The only one where I've kept my subscription current is North South Trader's Civil War. It's a beautiful magazine from a design standpoint and I've learned, and continue to learn, a lot about different areas of collecting, artifacts and ACW history. I don't blink about paying the subscription.

Agree North South Trader's Civil War is outstanding. Great articles that go in depth about the history behind the items. Especially enjoy the dug relics photo section that is part of each issue. When they took these from black and white photos to full color it made me more appreciative of the "personality" of each item.

 

[Lubliner]

@Lincoln56 I found this link last night; https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Southern_Historical_Society_Papers and began reading. I have also seen the Confederate Veteran set of magazines in book form for $795 dollars. Likewise I have found these published on the internet. From a collector's point I would think $300 for the Historical Papers may be a good deal. All these sets come shrink wrapped, though merchandisers can do this with their own equipment. They still both are in splendid condition. I do prefer hardcopy books, but not over Big Mac's and Fries!
Lubliner.

 

[Lincoln56]

@Lincoln56 I found this link last night; https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Southern_Historical_Society_Papers and began reading. I have also seen the Confederate Veteran set of magazines in book form for $795 dollars. Likewise I have found these published on the internet. From a collector's point I would think $300 for the Historical Papers may be a good deal. All these sets come shrink wrapped, though merchandisers can do this with their own equipment. They still both are in splendid condition. I do prefer hardcopy books, but not over Big Mac's and Fries!
Lubliner.

@Lubliner many thanks for the information.

Agree pricing is all over the place for various books and magazines; is a matter of being in the right place at the right time to secure them for a reasonable price. Been victimized by the phrase "new in shrink wrap", which while a technically correct statement, the content in the shrink wrap was definitely used.

 

[James N.]

... Now that I'm retired they've definitely priced me out of all except Civil War Monitor and I'm debating keeping this going.
At one time or another had subscriptions to all - I must admit I don't miss receiving them as much as I thought I would.

Agree the CWTI 10 issues for $10.00 was grand and now a historical artifact in its own right. This was my birthday present from my parents when I was young.

I actually began my subscription in 1961 to their B&W predecessor, then bought the two previous years of tabloid and "rotogravure" issues. When they changed over to the expanded Illustrated format I was happy to continue, though I was only a high school student at the time. Over the years I learned very much of what I now know from articles in CWTI and have a HUGE collection of back issues, the first ten years of them in clunky binders. Like yourself, I doubt I'll miss them a great deal because so much of it is rehash to me after a half-century of subscribing, on and off for the last decade or so. As for the Monitor, I've enjoyed a good bit of it, but have been turned off lately by their Left-leaning stance regarding Confederate monuments so don't intend to continue once my current subscription expires.

 

[James N.]

No, I am not sure we are talking of the same publications. It is the Southern Historical Society Papers that were first published in the late 19th Century. Founded in 1868-1869, documenting military and civilian views on the war. Supposed to be 52 volumes of articles from soldiers, officers, politicians, and civilians, and is a reprint that is dated from 1977 to 1980 "The History of the War-Time South by Various Authors" is what the classified ad claims. It shows a picture of page Volume 1, stating January to June 1876. It is a Kraus Reprint. Thanks for the help. It may be the same ones. I have not seen one of them. Possibly I can find some on-line to browse.
Lubliner.

If I remember correctly, the reprint edition of the SHS papers was another and later project of the publishers of CWTI/CWT who had previously republished the ENTIRE OR's!

 

[Lincoln56]

I actually began my subscription in 1961 to their B&W predecessor, then bought the two previous years of tabloid and "rotogravure" issues. When they changed over to the expanded Illustrated format I was happy to continue, though I was only a high school student at the time. Over the years I learned very much of what I now know from articles in CWTI and have a HUGE collection of back issues, the first ten years of them in clunky binders. Like yourself, I doubt I'll miss them a great deal because so much of it is rehash to me after a half-century of subscribing, on and off for the last decade or so. As for the Monitor, I've enjoyed a good bit of it, but have been turned off lately by their Left-leaning stance regarding Confederate monuments so don't intend to continue once my current subscription expires.

Those CWTI binders, while effective, were SO bad

As with you they formed the foundation of my Civil War knowledge. Due to life events I no longer have the issues but was fortunate to have found the NHS hardbound set.

Regarding the Monitor, I thought it might just be me. The first few years were very well done and educational but agree they've recently taken a HARD left turn and I'll not be renewing.

 

[redbob]

I have now culled my Civil War magazine subscriptions to just The Artilleryman Magazine as that is where my primary interest lies.

 

[Belfoured]

I have now culled my Civil War magazine subscriptions to just The Artilleryman Magazine as that is where my primary interest lies.

I definitely second that one (although technically it's not just Civil War)

 

[Norman Dasinger Jr]

I miss Blue and Gray magazine

 

[Belfoured]

I miss Blue and Gray magazine

No question. It's missed all the more with the recent preservation victories by ABT at places like Glendale and Perryville - a lot of new turf for "General's Tours".

 

[Lincoln56]

I miss Blue and Gray magazine

If they make a hardcover set for all magazine years I'd immediately buy a set. They've created a small handful of digital content - would be nice to see all magazines available in one or the other media. Secondary market prices for individual magazines are sometimes high though many are still reasonably priced.

IMO one of the best Civil War Magazines ever produced.

 

[letterreader]

What civil war magazine do most people subscribe to if any? thanks

The only one I subscribe to right now is Gettysburg Magazine published by the University of Nebraska. I believe several years ago, they "rescued" the magazine from its previous publisher. It only publishes twice a year, but the quality is very good in my opinion. The editor and the review board include a wide range of subject matter associated with the Gettysburg Battle. Naturally, there is considerable attention to military history (key parts of the battle, individual units and leaders). But they also include many articles about citizens, hospitals, railroads, life in Gettysburg, and other more interdisciplinary topics associated with Gettysburg. The review board that approves articles for publication is a good cross section of historians, certified Gettysburg guides, and others. I don't subscribe to the others mentioned, but I do frequently buy a new issue of one of the mentioned off the stand. Our local B and N store has a good section in the magazine section dedicated to military history and I often buy one that has an article or two I want to read and keep. Good question and thanks.