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Museum object · Books and Published Materials

The Marrow of Tradition

1901

Cambridge, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, North and Central America

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Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

This hardcover book is a first edition, first printing of The Marrow of Tradition, a novel by Charles Chesnutt. The novel presents a fictional account of the Wilmington Race Riot of 1898. The book has a yellow cloth binding. The front cover features the title, [The Marrow / of / Tradition], printed in black in an inverted, black triangle at the top center with a silver floral design at the tip of the triangle. The author's name is in black text, [CHARLES W. CHESNUTT], centered at the base of the book cover. The spine text is all printed in black type. The text along the top third of the spine reads, [The / Marrow / of / Tradition]. The author's name [CHARLES W. / CHESNUTT], is embossed on the center of the spine and the name of the publishers [HOUGHTON / MIFFLIN CO] is printed across the bottom of the spine.

Sources & collection details

Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture — original record ↗

Source collection ↗

Catalog metadata · CC0 · Source checked 2026-10-13

Catalog reference: 2021.75

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