State

. . . ;iihI oilier related mailers «I/ T. H. PEARCE This started out as a simple book re¬ view of the recently printed Confeder¬ ate Veterans Magazine re-issued in book form complete with index, for the first time, by Broadfoot Publishing Com¬ pany of Wilmington and Wendell. Upon starting, however. I found that there is no way to write a simple review of a set consisting of 40 volumes, one for each year. 1893-1932. that the Confederate Veteran was originally printed. Volumes that contain approximately 20,000 pages of text and more than 4.000 photo¬ graphs. The index to this massive work includes nearly a half million entries. 250.000 name entries, of which 165.000 arc different, in the 2.700 pages of its three volumes. So in addition to a book review, this article must be about Tom Broadfoot. the man responsible for Broadfoot Pub¬ lishing Company, and his work. A truly remarkable person who has perhaps done more than any other to encourage the study of the War Between the States and to benefit the genealogists of The South. Wendell And Wilmington Low key is an over-used expression, but perhaps it is the best way to describe Tom Broadfoot. He will be the first to tell you that he is not an expert or even a student of the War For Southern In¬ dependence. but considers himself a simple book seller. A book seller he un¬ doubtedly is. but simple he is not. A simple book seller would have been content to do just that, sell books. And while that is the way he started out back in 1971, selling old books from his home near W'cndell (Wake County), it wasn't enough. He soon realized that there were buyers for many more of the old books on the 1861-1865 period than there were copies available, and as a re¬ sult went into the reprint publishing business. The result of this is the Broadfoot Publishing Company and the Wendell Printing and Typesetting Company. The main office is at Wilmington. Tom gave in to his love of boats, water, and fish¬ ing and moved his family back to the family home there a couple of years ago. The retail store on Robertson Pond Road, near Wendell, is still open five days a week at its location adjacent to the Wendell Printing and Typesetting Company. W'hile many of his rare volumes arc kept in Wilmington the Wendell store always has a large stock of in-print material on the War. half price books and special bargains. It is here. too. that the latest division of Broadfoot 's. under the supervision of Jan Broadfoot. Tom's wife, is kept. This Broadfoot. «l»o la low key and Informal, claims that he Is not an e«per« on or even a student of the Civil War. but Ms work over the years has been a wonder¬ ful boon for those who do claim to be department sells books for use as school teaching aids in the study of North Car¬ olina. In addition to books pertaining to the state from practically every pub¬ lisher. there is a large stock of maps, film strips and cassettes. The Confederate Picture Getting back to the Confederate Vet¬ eran. This set of books is probably the most valuable thing ever done for the real student of the Confederacy. Robert E. Lee’s biographer. Douglas Southall Freeman, who was probably one of the most knowledgeable of all historians of the period, was quoted as saying. "The great depository for letters, anecdotes and personal experiences was the Con¬ federate Veteran. . . . One never gets fully the picture of the Confederacy . . . until one has read many volumes I p of the Veteran." Some students of the era have tried > for many years to accumulate a com- l plete set of the magazine without sue- v ( cess. Only 5000 copies of the first few issues were printed and those that have survived arc now almost impossible to 1 find. They bring exhorbitant prices when located. This being the case. Broadfoot’s work of having them reproduced in book form is of unes- | timable value. The set is attractively ?. bound in gray cloth, with gold stamp¬ ing on red spine panels. The printing is on acid-free paper, an exact reproduc¬ tion of the originals. The best possible issues were used for the reproduction. . An Amazing Index The huge, three-volume index is a story in itself and the result of an almost "The Confederate Veteran" Magazine, Tom Broadfoot 2? THE STATE. JUUY 1987