Sites and Information

Howells Sites
Commentary about Howells
Scholarship and Teaching 
Biographical Information
Pictures and Other Materials
Help for Students
Howells's Works 
American Literature Sites
Commentary about Howells by Contemporaries
  • Mark Twain on Howells, from the "Ever the Twain Shall Meet" site.
  • "Howells's Boston" by Sylvester Baxter (The New England Magazine, October 1893; page images at MOA). Includes line drawings of houses.
  • "Mr. Howells's Latest Novels" by Hamlin Garland (The New England Magazine, May 1890; pages images at MOA). Novels discussed include Annie Kilburn and A Hazard of New Fortunes.


  • Biographical Information
  •     The Literary Encyclopedia has a good biographical entry on Howells and links to his contemporaries' biographies as well.
  • Adam Gopnik's New Yorker review of Susan Goodman and Carl Dawson's new biography of Howells.
  • A biographical sketch of Howells at the Howells Society site.
  • The William Dean Howells house in St. Augustine, Florida. Information and pictures from the Old St. Augustine Village site.
  • William Dean Howells: A Brief Chronology
  • Jim Zwick's Anti-Imperialism in the United States site has many of Howells's essays, and his large Mark Twain site  has texts, pictures, and commentary on Howells and Twain.


  • Scholarship and Teaching
  •  Don L. Cook's review of William Dean Howells in St. Augustine.
  • Guide to the William Dean Howells papers at the University of Rochester library.
  •  John W. Crowley's comments on and suggestions for teaching Howells from the Heath Anthology site.
  • Douglas Emory Wilson's review of A Selected Edition of William Dean Howells in Text: Transactions of the Society for Textual Scholarship (December 1996)
  • Annotated Online Bibliography of Current Criticism
  • Recent Books and Articles on Howells (1994-present)
  • Recommended Books and Articles on Howells
  • James Tuttleton, "William Dean Howells and the Practice of Criticism" (New Criterion, 1992)

    Help for Students
  • Reading questions on The Rise of Silas Lapham.
  • Paul Reuben's Perspectives in American Literature site on Howells contains a bibliography and study questions on "Editha."
  • A set of study questions on "Editha"
  • The Literary Movements in American Literature site contains a definition of realism and realism bibliography.
  • A Student's Guide to American Literature contains brief notes on Howells as a poet and as a novelist.
  • A short bibliography on "Editha" is now available on the Student Queries page.


  • Pictures of Howells and Other Materials
  • Picture of bronze relief of Howells and his daughter Mildred by Augustus St. Gaudens (1898).
  • Cartoon of Howells from Life magazine in the 1890s: "William Dean Howells, the young author of promise." From Mary Klages's course on the American 1890s
  • Poems by Winifred Howells at the Legacy site.
  • Sites about Howells

  • W. D. Howells Page by Eric Eldred. Eric Eldred of Eldritch Press has generously donated his Howells materials to the Howells Society. These materials include Their Wedding Journey, The Shadow of a Dream, The Day of their Wedding, and Edward S. Martin's obituary of Howells (Harper's, 1920).
  • Paul P. Reuben's Howells Page. Part of Perspectives in American Literature: A Research and Reference Guide, this site includes an extensive secondary bibliography on Howells.

  • Periodicals

  • Cornell's Making of America site has many nineteenth-century periodicals available as graphics files.  This searchable  site includes Harper's New Monthly Magazine  and Atlantic, among others. Updated link
  • Links to Howells's "Editor's Study" columns.  This page contains links to all of the "Editor's Study" columns available at Cornell's MOA site.
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    Comments to campbelld at wsu dot edu.