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Unpublished readers' reports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.

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312 results

Mr Chesnutt and the Negro Problem

  • Date:
    • December 29, 1901
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Newark Sunday News

Mr. Chesnutt at Work

  • Date:
    • September 4, 1901
  • Creator(s):
    • Thrasher, Max Bennett
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Boston Evening Transcript

Mr. Chesnutt's New Book and Some Others

  • Date:
    • December 16, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Hanscom, Alice E.
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Town Topics

Mr. Chesnutt's New Book and Some Others

  • Date:
    • December 16, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Hanscom, Alice E.
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Town Topics

The Negro as Writer

  • Date:
    • February 1930
  • Creator(s):
    • Chamberlain, John
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Bookman

Negro Authors and Professionals

  • Date:
    • August 12, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Landon
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • New York Evening Post

A Negro's Book

  • Date:
    • December 2, 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Pittsburg Post

A New Afro-American Humorist

  • Date:
    • March 31, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Philadelphia Record

A New Author of Good Stories of Southern Negro Life

  • Date:
    • January 7, 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • San Francisco Chronicle

The New Books by Mr. Chesnutt

  • Date:
    • December 15, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Index

A New Delineator of Southern Life

  • Date:
    • July 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Hudson, William
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Self Culture Magazine

A New Element in Fiction

  • Date:
    • August 1901
  • Creator(s):
    • Cary, Elisabeth L.
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Book Buyer

New Novels

  • Date:
    • November 11, 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Illustrated Buffalo Express

A New Uncle Tom's Cabin

  • Date:
    • December 14, 1901
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • St. Paul Dispatch

[Obituary, Charles W. Chesnutt]

  • Date:
    • November 26, 1932
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Publishers Weekly

[Obituary, Charles Waddell Chesnutt]

  • Date:
    • January 1933
  • Creator(s):
    • Du Bois, W. E. B.
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Crisis

One of the Leading Novelists of the Race

  • Date:
    • December 4, 1901
  • Creator(s):
    • Wright, John Livingston
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Colored American Magazine

Our Review Table

  • Date:
    • December 22, 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Tuskegee Student

Plantation Tales

  • Date:
    • April 9, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Morning Times

A Powerful Story

  • Date:
    • November 20, 1901
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Chicago Daily Tribune

[Publication notice of Chesnutt Review in The Critic]

  • Date:
    • February 11, 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Plain Dealer Sunday Magazine

Race Problem in a Novel

  • Date:
    • November 10, 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Chicago Daily Tribune

Race Problems in the South, The Argonaut, May 5, 1902

  • Date:
    • May 5, 1902
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Argonaut

The Race Question in Fiction

  • Date:
    • October 27, 1901
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Sunday Herald

Review of Charles W. Chesnutt's Latest Book with a Brief Appreciation of his Character

  • Date:
    • December 9, 1905
  • Creator(s):
    • Brascher, Nahum D.
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Cleveland Journal

[Review of Frederick Douglass]

  • Date:
    • January 29, 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Langhorne, Orra
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Southern Workman

[Review of Frederick Douglass]

  • Date:
    • January 13, 1900
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • New York Times Book Review

[Review of Frederick Douglass]

  • Date:
    • November 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Hapgood, Hutchins
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Bookman

[Review of Frederick Douglass]

  • Date:
    • January 18, 1900
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Book News

[Review of Frederick Douglass]

  • Date:
    • Dec. 24, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Springfield Sunday Republican

[Review of Frederick Douglass]

  • Date:
    • December 16, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Time and the Hour

[Review of Frederick Douglass]

  • Date:
    • January 4, 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • City and State

[Review of Frederick Douglass]

  • Date:
    • January 27, 1900
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Statesman

[Review of Frederick Douglass]

  • Date:
    • December 9, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Buffalo Enquirer

[Review of Frederick Douglass]

  • Date:
    • December 10, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Illustrated Buffalo Express

[Review of Frederick Douglass]

  • Date:
    • October 26, 1901
  • Creator(s):
    • Alexander, Charles
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Freeman

[Review of Frederick Douglass]

  • Date:
    • January 6, 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Chicago Record

[Review of Frederick Douglass]

  • Date:
    • December 16, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

[Review of Frederick Douglass]

  • Date:
    • March 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Book Reviews

[Review of Frederick Douglass]

  • Date:
    • January 24, 1900
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • San Francisco Chronicle

[Review of Frederick Douglass]

  • Date:
    • February 1, 1900
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Life

[Review of Frederick Douglass]

  • Date:
    • February 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Book Reviews

[Review of Frederick Douglass]

  • Date:
    • January, 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The American Monthly Review of Reviews

[Review of Frederick Douglass]

  • Date:
    • March 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Cram's Magazine

[Review of Frederick Douglass]

  • Date:
    • February 3, 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Churchman

[Review of Frederick Douglass]

  • Date:
    • March 15, 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Christian Endeavor World

[Review of Frederick Douglass]

  • Date:
    • December 19, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Washington Times

[Review of Frederick Douglass]

  • Date:
    • December 11, 1899
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Worchester Evening Gazette

[Review of Frederick Douglass]

  • Date:
    • April 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Critic

[Review of Frederick Douglass]

  • Date:
    • December 30, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Living Age

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