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Unpublished readers' reports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 The House Behind the Cedars]

  • Date:
    • December 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • World's Work

[Review of The House Behind the Cedars]

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

[Review of The House Behind the Cedars]

  • Date:
    • December 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Southern Workman

[Review of The House Behind the Cedars]

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

[Review of The House Behind the Cedars]

  • Date:
    • December 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • A. E. H.
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Chautauquan

[Review of The House Behind the Cedars]

  • Date:
    • December 1900
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Literary Era

[Review of The House Behind the Cedars]

  • Date:
    • January 5, 1901
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Globe

A Daughter of Sorrow

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

[Review of The House Behind the Cedars]

  • Date:
    • February 28, 1901
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Nation

[Review of The House Behind the Cedars]

  • Date:
    • March 7, 1901
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Advance

[Review of The House Behind the Cedars]

  • Date:
    • March 16, 1901
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Saturday Review

[Review of The House Behind the Cedars]

  • Date:
    • March 1901
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Phonographic Magazine

A Southern Problem

  • Date:
    • June15, 1901
  • Creator(s):
    • Crawford, John N.
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Chicago Journal

A New Element in Fiction

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

An Exemplary Citizen

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

Mr. Chesnutt at Work

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

[Review of Frederick Douglass]

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

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 1, 1901
  • Creator(s):
    • W. W. H.
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Modern Culture

[Review of The Marrow of Tradition]

  • Date:
    • November 2, 1901
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • New York Press

From the Negro Side

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

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

[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:
    • November 16, 1901
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Beacon

[Review of The Marrow of Tradition]

  • Date:
    • November 16, 1901
  • Creator(s):
    • Mabie, Hamilton Wright
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Outlook

A Bundle of New Novels

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

[Review of The Marrow of Tradition]

  • Date:
    • November 19, 1901
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Portland Weekly Advertiser

[Review of The Marrow of Tradition]

  • Date:
    • November 20, 1901
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The St. Paul Globe

A Powerful Story

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

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

One of the Leading Novelists of the Race

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

[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:
    • December 7, 1901
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Appeal

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

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

[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:
    • December 21, 1901
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Friends' Intelligencer

[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

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

[Review of The Marrow of Tradition]

  • Date:
    • January 8, 1902
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Herald and Presbyter

[Review of The Marrow of Tradition]

  • Date:
    • January 12, 1902
  • Creator(s):
    • von Ende, Von A.
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Sonntagsblatt der New-Yorker Staats-Zeitung

[Review of The Marrow of Tradition]

  • Date:
    • January 18, 1902
  • Creator(s):
    • Alexander, Charles
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Freeman

[Review of The Marrow of Tradition]

  • Date:
    • January 19, 1902
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Seattle Post-Intelligencer

[Review of The Marrow of Tradition]

  • Date:
    • January 26, 1902
  • Creator(s):
    • Hahn, Charles Curtz
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Sunday World-Herald

Bottom Pagination