Reviews

Unpublished readers' reports

For forty years (1891-1931), Chesnutt submitted fiction to the Boston publishing firm Houghton Mifflin for possible publication. The readers' reports were, of course, evaluations of the literary merits and commercial prospects of submissions. The original documents, now held at the Houghton library, Harvard University, provide a window into how Chesnutt's fiction was read at the firm. The readers' reports have been all but ignored until very recently. Although Chesnutt interacted with numerous publishers in his career, his ongoing interest in publishing with Houghton Mifflin—despite recurrent rejections—is striking. For an extended analysis of these documents, see Antje Anderson, Stephanie P. Browner, Lauren Millhorn, and Kenneth M. Price, "Houghton Mifflin Readers' Reports and the Shape of Charles W. Chesnutt's Literary Career," New England Quarterly 98, no. 4 (December 2025), 490-532.

Readers' reports

Published contemporary reviews of Chesnutt's works

The following section offers the most complete collection of contemporary reviews of Chesnutt to be found anywhere. We will supplement this collection further as more reviews are located, and we are grateful when users alert us to missing items.

During his lifetime, Chesnutt's works earned publication notices and reviews in a wide variety of newspapers and magazines. Our collection includes reviews published in city newspapers, regional magazines, and national outlets. The collection includes materials from the Black press as well as the White press.

In the late 1990s John M. Freiermuth, then a graduate student in the Department of English, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, collected a large batch of reviews and offered them to project co-editor Stephanie Browner for use on the initial version of the Chesnutt Archive. Since then many more reviews have been located thanks to the increasing availability of historic periodicals through online databases. Samantha Gilmore of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has led the effort to discover and document more reviews, an effort that has vastly increased our ability to study Chesnutt’s early reception.

You can find reviews for specific Chesnutt works here, or browse all reviews below.

Pagination

312 results

An Aboriginal Author

  • Date:
    • August 23, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Bouve, Pauline C.
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Boston Evening Transcript

Achievements of the Negro Race

  • Date:
    • September 29, 1905
  • Creator(s):
    • Miller, Kelly
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Voice of the Negro

American Biographies for Busy Men

  • Date:
    • December 17, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Los Angeles Times

Among the Superstitious

  • Date:
    • August 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Current Literature

Another Beacon Biography

  • Date:
    • December 25, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Chicago Chronicle

Answers Thomas Dixon

  • Date:
    • October 28, 1905
  • Creator(s):
    • Seibel, George
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Pittsburgh Gazette

The Author of "The Conjure Woman," Charles W. Chesnutt

  • Date:
    • July 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Shipman, Carolyn
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Critic

Author Wins Spingarn Medal

  • Date:
    • June 14, 1928
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The New York Times

Biography in miniature

  • Date:
    • February 1, 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Dial

Books of all Sorts and Kinds now Flood the Literary Mart

  • Date:
    • November 19, 1905
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Los Angeles Herald

A Bundle of New Novels

  • Date:
    • November 17, 1901
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Providence Daily Journal

C. W. Chesnutt, Negro Author, Dies

  • Date:
    • November 16, 1932
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The New York Times

Charles W. Chesnutt's Books

  • Date:
    • February 1, 1902
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Appeal

Charles W. Chesnutt's Color Line Novel, "The House Behind the Cedars"

  • Date:
    • October 31, 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Boston Evening Transcript

Charles W. Chesnutt's Stories

  • Date:
    • June 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Howells, William Dean
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Current Literature

Charles Waddell Chestnut (sic)

  • Date:
    • 1919
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • National Cyclopedia of the Colored Race

A Chesnutt Reprint

  • Date:
    • February 16, 1929
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Public Ledger

Chesnutt's Latest Story

  • Date:
    • October 15, 1905
  • Creator(s):
    • Daniels, John
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Alexander's Magazine

Chesnutt's Tales

  • Date:
    • December 16, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Boston Evening Transcript

The Colonel's Dream

  • Date:
    • March 1906
  • Creator(s):
    • B. J. R.
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Book News

The Colonel's Dream

  • Date:
    • October 28, 1905
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Knoxville Sentinel

The Colonel's Dream

  • Date:
    • September 30, 1905
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The News Leader

The Colonel's Dream

  • Date:
    • January 20, 1906
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Indianapolis News

The Colonel's Dream

  • Date:
    • December 1905
  • Creator(s):
    • Daniels, John
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Alexander's Magazine

The Conjure Woman, a Book to be Read

  • Date:
    • April 9, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Plain Dealer Sunday Magazine

Conjure Woman Reviews

  • Date:
    • April 15, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anon.
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • New York Times

Darkey Superstition

  • Date:
    • May 16, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Rock Island Union

A Daughter of Sorrow

  • Date:
    • January 21, 1901
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Argonaut

A Difficult Theme

  • Date:
    • November 21, 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Boston Journal

Dream Doesn't Come True

  • Date:
    • September 9, 1905
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Globe and Commercial Advertiser

Du Bose Heyward's "Mamba's Daughter's" and Republication of Chesnutt's "The Conjure Woman" Makes This "Negro Literature Week"

  • Date:
    • February 2, 1929
  • Creator(s):
    • Davis, Elrick B.
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Cleveland Press

An Exemplary Citizen

  • Date:
    • August 1901
  • Creator(s):
    • Howells, William Dean
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The North American Review

Fiction and Fact

  • Date:
    • January 28, 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Wilmington Messenger

Fittingly Bestowed

  • Date:
    • June 15, 1928
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Plain Dealer

The Fourteenth Spingarn Medal

  • Date:
    • August 1928
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Crisis

From the Negro Side

  • Date:
    • November 3, 1901
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Illustrated Buffalo Express

Hoodooed

  • Date:
    • April 15, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Baltimore Sun

The House Behind the Cedars

  • Date:
    • December 29, 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Boston Courier

The House Behind the Cedars

  • Date:
    • 25 Nov 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Bulletin

In Memorium: Charles W. Chesnutt

  • Date:
    • December 1932
  • Creator(s):
    • Brown, Sterling A.
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Opportunity: Journal of Negro Life

In the Realm of Fiction

  • Date:
    • December 6, 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Watchman

An Issue in the Race Problem

  • Date:
    • November 11, 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Detroit Free Press

The Late Frederick Douglass

  • Date:
    • December 22, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Dall, Caroline Healy
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Springfield Daily Republican

Lewis-Addams Urge 'Jim-Crow Y.'

  • Date:
    • November 17, 1928
  • Creator(s):
    • Smith, Harry C.
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Gazette

Life of Frederick Douglass

  • Date:
    • December 10, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Denver Republican

Literature of the American Negro

  • Date:
    • September 9, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Time and the Hour

Mencken

  • Date:
    • October 1927
  • Creator(s):
    • Du Bois, W. E. B.
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Crisis

The Mixture of Blood

  • Date:
    • November 11, 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Denver Times

[Mr. Charles W. Chesnutt]

  • Date:
    • October 29, 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Anon.
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Current Literature

Mr. Charles W. Chestnut, Esq.

  • Date:
    • July 15, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anon.
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The [Cleveland] Gazette

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