New Reenactor Publication question

[paulcalloway]

Re: New Reenactor Publication question

I thought the CCG was really making headway under the leadership of N. Hughes. The WatchDog has some good articles and some quality editors like our own M. Jaeger, but it's not a monthly periodical.

Now that N. Hughes has resigned, there's a void - and one that won't be entirely filled by the internet. I just dont think we're quite to that point yet. In many other hobbies, interests the print magazines seem to be still going strong.

I think there's still a market for the printed word because when it gets down to it, most of us still like to hold a book or a journal or a magazine in our hand and not read them online. I still print a lot of articles off even when they are on the net so I can read them in an armchair.

If there was a quality magazine to subscribe to, it'd have my support.

[20thMainerCampaigner]

Re: New Reenactor Publication question

Folks,
With the overwhelming dissatisfaction of the Camp Chase Gazette and the Civil War Courier, if there were to be a new, full color, Civil War military AND civilian Reenactor publication devoted to the improvement of the hobby, what would you like to see in it? You are available to vote for more than one item.

Uniform studies?
Civilian clothing studies?
Unit studies?
Equipage studies?
Product reviews?
Event listings including EBUFU along with the others?
Reprints of period materials including items out of Godeys, Petersons, Etc.?


We would like to hear your opinions on this as it could soon be a reality and it can only be the best with input from the community which it will serve.

Thank you for your time and we look forward to your responses,

Hey,

Definately Uniform and Equipage studies, and it wouldn't be complete without product reviews.

Courtney Micker

[PvtSchultz]

Re: New Reenactor Publication question

I think we are long overdue for a REAL publication devoted to the hobby. I long ago stopped reading Camp Chase and the others because they just didn't satisfy my needs. I consider myself more mainstrean than anything else, but would like to see something that could take care of the needs of the campaigners as well as people such as myself. Leave the Camp Chase to the farbs! As I get more and more into this hobby, I find myself looking to improve my appearance and thus my impression. I am not big into first person but see where it can be a boon to a particular event.

A publication as suggested by Matt would appeal to those mainstreamers who are looking to improve themselves and perhaps even try a campaigner event or two. It would also appeal to the campaigners, especially if the publication strives for authenticity and historical accuracy. Civilian and military aspects should be inlcuded. By doing all of that, I see it as a publication that unites us rather than divides us. Remember, a house divided will fail! Just my two cents worth.

Rich Schultz,

[modelf85]

Re: New Reenactor Publication question

I have to agree with terrence, I would like to see more how to articals like how to roll great coats, how to sew stuff, that kind of "how tos".

[billwatson]

Re: New Reenactor Publication question

1. What did our ancestors believe and why did they believe it? How did what they believed affect their level of participation in the war? Stories that explore letters to and from soldiers, and their postwar accounts, would open this up.

2. Who's the state-of-the-art living history group this (month, year, etc.)? Wny are they at the acme of what we do? How did they get there? Where are they going next? How do they define success? How do they know they've succeeded?

3. Analyses of successful events -- what goes into the EBUFU experience? What advice do those who put these on have for the rest of us (not, please note, what opinion does the writer have about the event, but comments coming straight from the horse's mouth, the people who put on the event, about what worked, what didn't, what they wished they hadn't done, what they'll do different next time, and why they do it at all....)

4. Advertising that is useful -- not "placeholder" ads reminding people to shop at blahblahblah at the next big carnival in a cornfield, but ads that solve the problem a great many people have about figuring out who has what. Good, strong advertising content is actually a draw for readership, but it needs to be selected as carefully as you will undoubtedly select news/essays etc.

5. Standing features -- preservation news. There are a lot of history-heavy reenactors who are interested in preserving history, both artifacts and historic places.

What I'd not like to see:
Sermons
Whines
Snipes
Self-serving prosyletizing from people who have confused their personal ambition with advancement of the hobby.
The words "ought to" and "should". Get rid of those words and most essays improve immediately.

What I would like to see:
Good examples of living history experiences.
Discussions of what the hell leadership looks like (the Messiah model is clearly not working).
Discussions and explanations of what good kit looks like and how it works in the field (Nicky Hughes was well along this route when the Camp Chase Gazette was purchased by the infidels).
Good, solid writing by people who always keep in front of them the realization that when this thing comes out, people are going to expect to be informed, entertained, amused and diverted, not bludgeoned.

[KyCavMajor]

Re: cap tins

I'd personally like to see the "how to open a tin of caps"When I was opening my Navy Arms Friday,I was useing a knife and ended up stabbing my thumb,not to deep though.I'd like to see that article, :wink_smil
Cullen Smith

Chuck em in a fire, opens it EVERY time....without blood loss,,,, well if you run fast enough far enough :)

[Iron Scout]

Re: New Reenactor Publication question

Honestly,

There is a large need even in the museum field for material culture studies that go beyond the basics. This cuts across military & civilian textiles to equipment. I know of several institutions that would jump at quarterly publications detailing schmatics, measurements and detailed analysis of articles in public and private hands. My two cents.

Neill Rose
PLHA

[Matt Caldwell]

Re: New Reenactor Publication question

"With my own Mental Picture, and where I, and others, perceive me to be on the Journey and the Path- my current needs and wants could be argued as putting me in such a tiny fraction of a per-cent of the Civil War Community as a whole- that any publication attmepting to meet my needs/wants as a reader/consumer is doomed to fail.
Meaning, IMHO, the unique and specialized needs and wants of the H/A Wing of the Community represent too small a market to be economically viable, let alone profitable for a publisher.

However, to further the discussion, at what point, at what "mix" of what "type" articles, DOES a magazine meet the needs of the potential reader base and market, and at what point does a "leaning" toward the H/A Wing stand to alienate and lose the larger majority of F/M/C/P readers/subscribers?
And, swinging the pendulum back, (IMHO, as with CGC) at what point does a "leaning" toward the F/M/C/P Wing stand to alienate and lose the larger majority of H/A Wing readers/subscribers?
And who has the wisdom and/or ability to serve and appeal to the entire F/M/C/P/ H/A Community? (OR should they??) "

Curt,
I have been in contact with the publisher of the proposed magazine for a few days now, and yes, he is not 501C3, however, his credentials of previously published magazines has been historically based and, get this, he knows about preservation (in other fields) )and is an activist. He believes that there is no market too small and after talking with him about it, he seemed very excited about the idea.

The editor of this publication, should enough interest prove itself, will be one of our own, an authentic reenactor, whose primary obligation is to distribute authentic information that is useful to all reenactors. I will not get into the meat of it, but if this does go through, the articles will be pro history, pro authentic, and pro reenacting. There will be no article that encourages the use of sleeping bags, air mattresses, or coolers. But you can rest assured that there will be articles written by the most well versed scholars in the community.

“.Feel free to leave out the "Camp Gossip" department though.If I want to read about rants,whining,flame war,etc.”

Forrest,
There was no, nor is there any plan to include such a section for this publication. This is to be an educational publication, and if people need their fix of drama, they can tune into Judge Judy weekdays at 5:00 PM.

“An electronic format, say PDF, would greatly reduce the cost of publication. People can subscribe and receive via-email.”

Rick,
This is a valid request, however, with what we have planned for it (100 pages, 60 in color and 40 B/W), it would be more beneficial in the long run to the subscribers, to have a hard copy in their back pocket. The plan is to have high quality pictures in color, of events, authentic uniforms, original uniforms, original civilian garments, original ladies items, and the what ever else that the community may request. In the age of web sites that go bye bye for no reason what-so-ever and with so many good articles, this will be, so we hope, research in the box that one can refer to. We think that this will be beneficial to both aspects of the hobby.

“Matt,
I also think a magazine that a portion of the proceeds go to preservation would be great (I know, this goes without saying). The problem I have noticed with many organizations is that they donate to too many historic sites at one time. This spreads very little money even thinner. One focused effort seems like a better goal to me. I think any publication that may arise from this forum should pick one severely endangered site, and back that solely, or maybe pick one new historic site a year.”

Terence,
This will be one of the key factors of this proposed new magazine. Yes the publisher is for profit, however, I will implore him will all my power to make a mild donation to a preservation group. I don’t think this will even be an issue. Even if it is a few dollars per subscription, that would be 20-$40,000 per year to a preservation group that would not have had it. Heck, those numbers are based off of the initial prospective number of subscribers and that number could easily climb to 3-4 times that. What did Camp Chase give?

To address your concern of too many sites: the donation, under my advisement, would be given to the CWPT directly, and they would be make the payments where they deemed fit.

“I think there's a place in the hobby for this type of magazine. But so many people have tried to start them up, taken payment on a year's subscription, and then delivered 2 issues before folding the tents, that I'm skeptical of subscribing or advertising in a new magazine. Publishing a magazine is a full time occupation, not something that a few guys can do a few nights a week. Good luck.”

Bob,
I agree that there is a place for this magazine in the hobby as a whole. Provided this takes off, I can 95% assure you that this will be more that a 1 year adventure. If we play our cards right and offer the information and things that the people are looking for, then we will be the new “Camp Chase” and given the light of things in the past few years, I certainly hope that this does happen. This is a well established publisher with strong ties in preservation in general. He has yet to make up his mind, but he seems like the perfect person that we would want behind our hobby’s endeavors.

“Civilian and military aspects should be included. By doing all of that, I see it as a publication that unites us rather than divides us. Remember, a house divided will fail! Just my two cents worth”

Rich,
My sentiments exactly. Too long has the authentic civilian community had to deal with being separated from the Military, in the sense of publication. Heck, all soldiers were civilians at one time before the war, and all “authentic” reenactors should know something about life outside the army.

“1. What did our ancestors believe and why did they believe it? How did what they believed affect their level of participation in the war? Stories that explore letters to and from soldiers, and their postwar accounts, would open this up.”

Bill,
This is a god question and we plan to deliver articles that delve into the deeper aspects of the life of the soldier, however, this may take many, many volumes to even touch upon, however, we will try. The rest of your points are valid and should work nicely into the publication. Preservation is one thing that I am working on hard with the publisher, and owner, of this. Keep in mind that the editor, not the owner, has been authorized 100% control of the content in this publication, and given that he his an authentic, this will be good for everyone.

“There is a large need even in the museum field for material culture studies that go beyond the basics. This cuts across military & civilian textiles to equipment. I know of several institutions that would jump at quarterly publications detailing schematics, measurements and detailed analysis of articles in public and private hands. My two cents.”

Neill,
This is one of our largest goals. We anticipate the study of, and this is still tentative that it is given the go ahead of, at-least one military garment, one civilian garment, and a reprint of an original pattern or text from a period source (Godeys, Petersons, Etc.) per issue.

This is it for now, but please keep the suggestions coming in as it will only benefit the community as a whole.

[OlszowyTM]

Re: New Reenactor Publication question

“Civilian and military aspects should be included. By doing all of that, I see it as a publication that unites us rather than divides us. Remember, a house divided will fail! Just my two cents worth”

Spot on!

My dream focus,to quote one of my Susan Hughes favorites, “Mental Baggage for the Average 19thC Person ”.

Mental baggage allows us to increase the depth of our impressions- how many of us could accurately describe our 19thC life from cradle to grave; acquire the necessary background to eliminate 21st century campfire discussions resulting from a lack of period topics knowledge; provide a basis in fact for realistic & appropriate civ-mil interaction; tap an enormous resource for “fresh perspectives” – ala’ Vicki Betts’, Mark Jaeger’s & the Trents’ work in regional publications.

Articles would absolutely need to be topic balanced (history, life skills, & artifact driven)—I suspect the majority of troops would not be wild about a steady diet of the finer points of underpinnings, while at the same time, I can only digest so many articles on internal environment of the haversack.

Clothing & equipment studies, are certainly important to the development of our knowledge concerning the “stuff” of our period, but IMHO, they receive a disproportionate share of attention, creating shallow, fashion of the month driven impressions.

From a business standpoint, creating a publication addressing topics of interest for both combatant & noncombatant, which is scholarly/intellectually focused, makes sense economically; resources are pooled, overhead is reduced and a “one-stop shop” evolves.

“Build it & they will come!”

[BullCalf]

Re: New Reenactor Publication question

I'd personally like to see the "how to open a tin of caps"When I was opening my Navy Arms Friday,I was useing a knife and ended up stabbing my thumb,not to deep though.I'd like to see that article, :wink_smil
Cullen Smith

I definitely concur!!!!!!!!!

[markj]

Re: New Reenactor Publication question

The publication put out by MOMCC (Midwest Open-air Museum Coordinating Council) might be of interest as you look into this project:

http://www.momcc.org/The%20Magazine.htm

I gave a talk at the MOMCC conference at few years ago discussing antebellum militia companies, particularly in the case of Indiana.

Regards,

Mark Jaeger

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: New Reenactor Publication question

Hallo Herr Matt!

Thanks for taking the time to share that, as it obviously piques my interest... ;-)

From LONESOME DOVE:

Reporter: They say you are a man of vision.
Woodrow Call: Ya, helluva vision.

Curt-Heinrich Schmidt
Once Had A Helluva Vision Himself Mess

[hendrickms24]

Re: New Reenactor Publication question

All,
I would love to see an article on the DOs and Don'ts of living history events.
What information is the best to share with the visitor and the best way to set up displays!

[Beavis]

Re: New Reenactor Publication question

Why not have a column or section devoted to each subject? You could run one article in each. Of course, if the magazine gets too big you could always rotate subjects in and out as you go along during the year.
I hope you get it off the ground; I got tired of Camp Chase long ago.

[Vuhginyuh]

Re: New Reenactor Publication question

What would it take to get at least a bi-annual hardcopy version of the Authentic Campaigner? Maybe even a annual journal on the shelves? One that reflects the standards of the Forum and the Progressive & HC school of thought?

I am currently co-editing a field guide for begining archeaology students and now have some idea of the amount of work involved, the teamwork needed and the start up costs. We formed a N-P 501 (c) (3) and built from there up.

Our demographic range is narrow. I can see, however, a magazine or publication based on the ideals of this forum having a wider base.

Computers are handy and fast but nothing replaces a book in hand...