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Unpublished readers' reports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

Two Strong Men of the Race

  • Date:
    • April 5, 1902
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Tuskegee Student

That Alleged 'Chamber' Report

  • Date:
    • February 13, 1926
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Gazette

Charles Waddell Chestnut (sic)

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

Short-Hand in North Carolina

  • Date:
    • October 27, 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Charlotte Observer

C. W. Chesnutt, Negro Author, Dies

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

[Obituary, Charles W. Chesnutt]

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

[Publication notice of Chesnutt Review in The Critic]

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

[Review of The Marrow of Tradition]

  • Date:
    • December 1901
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Southern Workman

[Review of The Marrow of Tradition]

  • Date:
    • December 28, 1901
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Town and Country

[Review of The Marrow of Tradition]

  • Date:
    • December 28, 1901
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Freeman

[Review of The Conjure Woman]

  • Date:
    • April 16, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Los Angeles Herald

[Review of The Conjure Woman]

  • Date:
    • March 30, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Waterbury American

Literature of the American Negro

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

[Review of The Conjure Woman]

  • Date:
    • May 1, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Index

[Review of The Conjure Woman]

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

Studies in 'Local Color' and Dialect

  • Date:
    • April 2, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • New York Tribune Illustrated Supplement

A Chesnutt Reprint

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

Fiction and Fact

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

[Review of The Conjure Woman]

  • Date:
    • April 2, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Sunday News

[Review of The Conjure Woman]

  • Date:
    • June 20, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The New England Magazine

[Review of The Conjure Woman]

  • Date:
    • April 20, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Gazette

Darkey Superstition

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

[Review of The Conjure Woman]

  • Date:
    • June 7, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Zion's Herald

[Review of The Conjure Woman]

  • Date:
    • May 20, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Church Standard

[Review of The Conjure Woman]

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

[Review of The Conjure Woman]

  • Date:
    • May 25, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Christian Advocate

[Review of The Conjure Woman]

  • Date:
    • April 16, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Bulletin

[Review of The Conjure Woman]

  • Date:
    • June 15, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Public Opinion

[Review of The Conjure Woman]

  • Date:
    • April 2, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Boston Courier

[Review of The Conjure Woman]

  • Date:
    • April 1, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Saturday Evening Gazette

[Review of The Conjure Woman]

  • Date:
    • June 15, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Country Gentleman

[Review of The Conjure Woman]

  • Date:
    • May 18, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Congregationalist

A New Uncle Tom's Cabin

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

[Review of The Marrow of Tradition]

  • Date:
    • November 9, 1901
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Brooklyn Daily Eagle

[Review of The Marrow of Tradition]

  • Date:
    • November 16, 1901
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Boston Courier

[Review of The Marrow of Tradition]

  • Date:
    • December 15, 1901
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Times

Mr Chesnutt and the Negro Problem

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

[Review of The Marrow of Tradition]

  • Date:
    • March 6, 1902
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Independent

Six Novels

  • Date:
    • March 22, 1902
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Evening Post

[Review of The Marrow of Tradition]

  • Date:
    • December 12, 1901
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Watchman

[Review of The Marrow of Tradition]

  • Date:
    • December 4, 1901
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Zion's Herald

[Review of The Marrow of Tradition]

  • Date:
    • February 1902
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • World's Work

The Race Question in Fiction

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

[Review of The Marrow of Tradition]

  • Date:
    • November 1901
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Worchester Magazine

Three Novels of Nowadays

  • Date:
    • March 13, 1902
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Country Gentleman

[Review of The Marrow of Tradition]

  • Date:
    • November 22, 1901
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Daily Time

[Review of The Marrow of Tradition]

  • Date:
    • November 9, 1901
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Evening Star

A Story of Race Conflict

  • Date:
    • December 7, 1901
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Congregationalist and Christian World

[Review of The Marrow of Tradition]

  • Date:
    • December 15, 1901
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Daily States

[Review of The Marrow of Tradition]

  • Date:
    • July 26, 1902
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Broad Ax

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