Charles W. Chesnutt to Walter White, 1 March 1930 Charles W. Chesnutt Stephanie Browner Kenneth M. Price Matt Cohen Transcription, encoding, annotation Swift, Bianca Matheis, Caitlin S. Gilmore, Samantha Weakly, Laura K. McMullen, Kevin Barney, Brett Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln The New School University of Nebraska-Lincoln UCARE Program 2022 The Charles W. Chesnutt Archive
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 Charles W. Chesnutt to Walter White, 1 March 1930 March 1, 1930 Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University Carl Van Vechten Papers Relating to African American Arts and Letters JWJ MSS 1050, Series I Correspondence Chamberlain, John Van Vechten, Carl Conjure Woman House Behind the Cedars typed letter signed Chesnutt, Charles W. (Waddell) Cleveland, Ohio White, Walter New York, New York Unknown Kevin McMullen made a few more corrections Brett Barney instituted Stephanie's proofing corrections Kevin McMullendeleted extra bracket in signature Laura K. Weaklyreview Samantha Gilmoreadded ptrs Samantha Gilmoreannotated Caitlin Matheisproofed Bianca Swiftproofing and encoding Bianca SwiftTranscribing Encoding
CHAS. W. CHESNUTT HELEN C. MOORE
CHESNUTT & MOORE SHORTHAND REPORTERS 1646 UNION TRUST BLDG. CLEVELAND
March 1, 1930
Mr. Walter F. White, 90 Edgecombe Avenue, New York, N. Y.
My dear Walter:

I see from a newspaper item that you have been raised to the rank of the immortals, like Rosseau, Voltaire, Boccaccio, Theodore DreisserDreiser and others too numerous to mention, by having a couple of your books banned by the Boston censors. If this statement is true, I hope it will make them sell better than ever.

I presume you read the article in the January Bookman by Mr. John Chamberlain, on Negro writers. I don't know the gentleman's standing as a critic, though I understand he is on the staff of the New York Times Literary Review, but I am glad to see that he gives you and me perhaps the highest place among the colored writers.

I am awfully sorry that Houghton Mifflin Company stopped the publication of my books, as the "uncovering" of them and of me by Carl Van Vechten and others following him might have resulted in the sale of a good many more of them. The new "Conjure Woman" has done very well indeed, and, according to the publishers, has quite justified its reissue, and I hope to persuade them to bring out a new edition of "The House Behind the Cedars".

Give my regards to Mrs. White, whom I am still hoping to meet. I should probably have been in New York this winter, but the decline in the stock market knocked off a large part of the value of my small holdings, and I have felt too poor to spend the money. However, I will get around to it some time,

Cordially yours, Chas. W. Chesnutt CWC:ES