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Unpublished readers' reports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

[Review of Frederick Douglass]

  • Date:
    • January 27, 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Colored American

[Review of Frederick Douglass]

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

[Review of Frederick Douglass]

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

[Review of The Colonel's Dream]

  • Date:
    • February 1906
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Voice of the Negro

[Review of The Colonel's Dream]

  • Date:
    • January 1906
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • AME Church Review

[Review of The Colonel's Dream]

  • Date:
    • September 18, 1905
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Cleveland News

[Review of The Colonel's Dream]

  • Date:
    • October 7, 1905
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Seattle Post Intelligencer

[Review of The Colonel's Dream]

  • Date:
    • September 16, 1905
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Evening Star

[Review of The Colonel's Dream]

  • Date:
    • April 9, 1906
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Chicago Daily Tribune

[Review of The Colonel's Dream]

  • Date:
    • December 1, 1905
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Utica Observer

[Review of The Colonel's Dream]

  • Date:
    • September 10, 1905
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Savannah Morning News

[Review of The Colonel's Dream]

  • Date:
    • January 13, 1906
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • THE ATHENÆUM

[Review of The Colonel's Dream]

  • Date:
    • October 11, 1906
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Life

[Review of The Colonel's Dream

  • Date:
    • November 21, 1905
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Boston Evening Transcript

[Review of The Colonel's Dream]

  • Date:
    • September 23, 1905
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Detroit Free Press

[Review of The Colonel's Dream]

  • Date:
    • Sepember 30, 1905
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Chicago Evening Post

[Review of The Colonel's Dream

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

[Review of The Colonel's Dream]

  • Date:
    • October 5, 1905
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Independent

[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

[Review of The Conjure Woman]

  • Date:
    • April 21, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • M. L. D.
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • City and State

[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

[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

[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:
    • May, 1929
  • Creator(s):
    • J. B. H.Hubbell, Jay B.
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • American Literature

[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

[Review of The Conjure Woman]

  • Date:
    • April 9, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Knight, Lucien L.
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Constitution

[Review of The Conjure Woman]

  • Date:
    • April 1, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Cambridge Tribune

[Review of The Conjure Woman]

  • Date:
    • April 3, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Nebraska State Journal

[Review of The Conjure Woman]

  • Date:
    • April 30, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • San Francisco Chronicle

[Review of The Conjure Woman]

  • Date:
    • Apr. 30, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anon.
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Springfield Sunday Republican

[Review of The Conjure Woman]

  • Date:
    • April 29, 1899
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Philadelphia Press

[Review of The Conjure Woman]

  • Date:
    • April 15, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Outlook

[Review of The Conjure Woman]

  • Date:
    • October 1898
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Bookman

[Review of The Conjure Woman]

  • Date:
    • June 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Book Buyer

[Review of The Conjure Woman]

  • Date:
    • June 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Bookman

[Review of The Conjure Woman]

  • Date:
    • June 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Earle, Mary Tracey
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Book Buyer

[Review of The Conjure Woman]

  • Date:
    • July 1, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • MacArthur, James
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Outlook

[Review of The Conjure Woman]

  • Date:
    • June 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Morgan, Florence A. H.
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Bookman

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