Correspondence Catalog

Below is a catalog of all known correspondence to or from Charles W. Chesnutt, including draft letters—the first such resource compiled in Chesnutt scholarship.

We strive to list the current location of each letter. However, the location of some letters is unknown, and we are aware of their existence only through references in secondary sources; in such instances we list that secondary source. Approximately 120 letters are known only by their inclusion, in part or in full, in Helen M. Chesnutt's biography of her father, Charles Waddell Chesnutt: Pioneer of the Color Line (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1952); the source of these letters is listed as "Pioneer of the Color Line," along with the page number. Full transcriptions of letters are linked from the first column, when available.

This catalog will be updated as new letters are discovered, and users are encouraged to contact the project editors if they are aware of a letter not represented here.