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Unpublished readers' reports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 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:
    • December 16, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Living Age

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

[Review of The Wife of His Youth]

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

[Review of The Wife of His Youth]

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

[Review of The Wife of His Youth]

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

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

[Review of The Wife of His Youth]

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

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

[Review of The Wife of His Youth]

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

[Review of The Wife of His Youth]

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

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

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

[Review of The Wife of His Youth]

  • Date:
    • December 8, 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Congregationalist

[Review of The Wife of His Youth]

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

[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:
    • August 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Methodist Magazine and Review

[Review of The Wife of His Youth]

  • Date:
    • July 21, 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Courier–Journal

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

[Review of The Wife of His Youth]

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

[Review of The Wife of His Youth]

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

[Review of The Wife of His Youth]

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

[Review of The Wife of His Youth]

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

Short-Hand in North Carolina

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

Six Novels

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

Social Studies in Story

  • Date:
    • October 28, 1905
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Congregationalist and Christian World

Some Recent Light Novels

  • Date:
    • April 2, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Philadelphia Times

A Southern Problem

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

Spingarn Medal

  • Date:
    • June 30, 1928
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Gazette

Spingarn Medal

  • Date:
    • June 1928
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Washington D.C. Eagle

Stories of Negro Superstitions

  • Date:
    • June 26, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Hart, J. A.
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Argonaut

A Story of Love and Race Prejudice

  • Date:
    • November 16, 1900
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Philadelphia Record

A Story of North and South

  • Date:
    • September 16, 1905
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Courier-Journal

A Story of Race Conflict

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

Studies in 'Local Color' and Dialect

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

A Tale of the New South

  • Date:
    • November 20, 1905
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Argonaut

Tales of Negro Life

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

That Alleged 'Chamber' Report

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

"The Conjure Woman"

  • Date:
    • April 29, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The St. Paul Dispatch

"The Conjure Woman"

  • Date:
    • Apr. 15, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • Boston Beacon

"The Conjure Woman"

  • Date:
    • April 23, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The St. Paul Globe

"The Conjure Woman"

  • Date:
    • June 20, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Commercial Advertiser

"The Conjure Woman," Etc.

  • Date:
    • April 22, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Alexander, Charles
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The Freeman

"The Conjure Woman—Truth is Stranger than Fiction"

  • Date:
    • April 30, 1899
  • Creator(s):
    • Anonymous
  • Format:
    • periodical
  • Source:
    • The News and Observer

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