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Unpublished readers' reports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:
    • December 30, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Living Age

[Review of Frederick Douglass]

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

Another Beacon Biography

  • Date:
    • December 25, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Chicago Chronicle

[Review of The Wife of His Youth]

  • Date:
    • December 24, 1899
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Cleveland Leader

[Review of Frederick Douglass]

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

Two Americans

  • Date:
    • December 24, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Providence Sunday Journal

The Wife of His Youth.

  • Date:
    • December 23, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Cambridge Tribune

[Review of The Wife of His Youth]

  • Date:
    • December 23, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Churchman

The Late Frederick Douglass

  • Date:
    • December 22, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Dall, Caroline Healy
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Springfield Daily Republican

[Review of The Wife of His Youth]

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

[Review of Frederick Douglass]

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

[Review of The Wife of His Youth]

  • Date:
    • December 17, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Illustrated Buffalo Express

[Review of The Wife of His Youth]

  • Date:
    • December 17, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Springfield Sunday Republican

[Review of The Wife of His Youth]

  • Date:
    • December 17, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Times

[Review of The Wife of His Youth]

  • Date:
    • December 17, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Daily Register

American Biographies for Busy Men

  • Date:
    • December 17, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Los Angeles Times

[Review of The Wife of His Youth]

  • Date:
    • December 16, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The St. Louis Globe-Democrat

Review of [The Wife of His Youth]

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

Chesnutt's Tales

  • Date:
    • December 16, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Boston Evening Transcript

Review of [The Wife of His Youth]

  • Date:
    • December 16, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Living Age

[Review of The Wife of His Youth]

  • Date:
    • December 16, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Chicago Journal

Mr. Chesnutt's New Book and Some Others

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

[Review of Frederick Douglass]

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

[Review of Frederick Douglass]

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

Mr. Chesnutt's New Book and Some Others

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

[Review of The Wife of His Youth]

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

The New Books by Mr. Chesnutt

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

[Review of The Wife of His Youth]

  • Date:
    • December 13, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Portland Daily Advertiser

Tales of Negro Life

  • Date:
    • December 11, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Worchester Evening Gazette

[Review of Frederick Douglass]

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

[Review of The Wife of His Youth]

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

[Review of The Wife of His Youth]

  • Date:
    • December 10, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Los Angeles Herald

[Review of Frederick Douglass]

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

Life of Frederick Douglass

  • Date:
    • December 10, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Denver Republican

Two New Books by Charles W. Chesnutt

  • Date:
    • December 10, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Plain Dealer Sunday Magazine

[Review of Frederick Douglass]

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

[Review of The Wife of His Youth]

  • Date:
    • December 6, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Zion's Herald

[Review of The Wife of His Youth]

  • Date:
    • December 1, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Burlington Hawk-Eye

[Review of The Conjure Woman]

  • Date:
    • November 25, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Bruce, John E.
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Colored American

[Review of The Wife of His Youth]

  • Date:
    • November 14, 1899
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Evening Express

[Review of The Wife of His Youth]

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

[Review of The Conjure Woman]

  • Date:
    • September 10, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Sunday Times-Union and Citizen

Literature of the American Negro

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

Among the Superstitious

  • Date:
    • August 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Current Literature

An Aboriginal Author

  • Date:
    • August 23, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Bouve, Pauline C.
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Boston Evening Transcript

Negro Authors and Professionals

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

The Author of "The Conjure Woman," Charles W. Chesnutt

  • Date:
    • July 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Shipman, Carolyn
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Critic

[Review of The Conjure Woman]

  • Date:
    • July 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Critic

Mr. Charles W. Chestnut, Esq.

  • Date:
    • July 15, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anon.
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The [Cleveland] Gazette

[Review of The Conjure Woman]

  • Date:
    • July 9, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • St. Louis Democrat

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