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Unpublished readers' reports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

[Review of The Wife of His Youth]

  • Date:
    • July 14, 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Colored American

[Review of The Wife of His Youth]

  • Date:
    • June 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Wells, Benjamin W.
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Forum.

Charles W. Chesnutt's Stories

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

A Year's Best Books

  • Date:
    • June 30, 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • New York Times Review of Books

[Review of Frederick Douglass]

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

[Review of The Wife of His Youth]

  • Date:
    • April 12, 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Christian Endeavor World

[Review of Frederick Douglass]

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

[Review of Frederick Douglass]

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

[Review of The Wife of His Youh]

  • Date:
    • March 17, 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Gilder, Jeannette L.
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Harper's Bazaar

[Review of Frederick Douglass]

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

[Review of The Wife of His Youth]

  • Date:
    • March 12, 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Argonaut

[Review of The Wife of His Youth]

  • Date:
    • March 1, 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Country Gentleman

[Review of The Wife of His Youth]

  • Date:
    • March 1, 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Congregationalist

[Review of The Wife of His Youth]

  • Date:
    • February 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • A. M. B.
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Southern Workman

[Review of Frederick Douglass]

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

[Review of The Wife of His Youth]

  • Date:
    • February 24, 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Church Standard

Two New Novelists

  • Date:
    • February 24, 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Outlook

Two New Novelists

  • Date:
    • February 24, 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Mabie, Hamilton Wright
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Outlook

[Review of The Wife of His Youth]

  • Date:
    • February 22, 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Interior

[Review of The Wife of His Youth]

  • Date:
    • February 22, 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Advance

[Review of The Wife of His Youth]

  • Date:
    • February 18, 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Colorado Springs Gazette

[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 Wife of His Youth]

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

[Review of The Wife of His Youth]

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

[Review of The Wife of His Youth]

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

[Review of Frederick Douglass]

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

[Review of Frederick Douglass]

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

[Review of The Wife of His Youth]

  • Date:
    • February 2,1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Cleveland World

[Review of Frederick Douglass]

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

Biography in miniature

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

[Review of The Wife of His Youth]

  • Date:
    • January, 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Book News

[Review of The Wife of His Youth]

  • Date:
    • January 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Southern Farm Magazine

[Review of The Wife of His Youth]

  • Date:
    • January 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Literary Era

[Review of Frederick Douglass]

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

[Review of Frederick Douglass]

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

Fiction and Fact

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

[Review of The Wife of His Youth]

  • Date:
    • January 27, 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Neidig, William J.
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Wave

[Review of Frederick Douglass]

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

[Review of Frederick Douglass]

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

[Review of Frederick Douglass]

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

[Review of The Wife of His Youth]

  • Date:
    • January 21, 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Boston Courier

[Review of Frederick Douglass]

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

The Wife of His Youth

  • Date:
    • January 15, 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Indianapolis Journal

[Review of Frederick Douglass]

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

A New Author of Good Stories of Southern Negro Life

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

[Review of Frederick Douglass]

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

[Review of Frederick Douglass]

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

[Review of The Wife of His Youth]

  • Date:
    • January 2, 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Chicago Chronicle

[Review of The Wife of His Youth]

  • Date:
    • January 1, 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Topeka State Journal

[Review of The Wife of His Youth]

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

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