William Peterfield Trent, LL.D., D.C.L. was an American academic and the author/editor of many books. He was a professor of English literature at and Columbia University. While at Sewanee, he founded the Sewanee Review in 1892, a literary journal that continues to operate.
Early life
Trent was born in Richmond, Virginia. His grandfather, Joseph Trent, had an M.D. degree from the University of Pennsylvania. His father, Peterfield Trent, also became a doctor and served as a surgeon for the Confederate States Army during the war. His mother, née Lucy Carter Burwell, came from a long line of Virginians. Trent was first educated at Thomas Norwood's University School. In 1880 he began studying at the University of Virginia, where his fellow students included Woodrow Wilson and Oscar W. Underwood. Here he became the editor of the Virginia University Magazine before graduation. He left with a master of arts. In 1887 he began studying at Johns Hopkins University. He was a member of the Seminary of Historical Political Science, which was directed by Herbert B. Adams. It was rare for a student to read more than one report per academic year for the Seminary, but Trent read three.
Career
While still at university, Trent accepted an offer to teach at. He served as professor of English and the acting professor of history in Sewanee, Tennessee, from 1888 until 1900, and from 1893 was dean of the academic department. While there, he founded and edited The Sewanee Review. He also created the Sewannee Historical Society at the University of the South. He was a speaker at the Vanderbilt Southern History Society at Nashville. Both groups were developed to build a stronger collection of history documents and books in the South. In 1900, Trent became professor of English literature at Columbia University, in New York City. There he turned his attention to the study of Daniel Defoe and to English history and literature of the 1680 to 1730 period. He edited Robinson Crusoe and wrote a biography and bibliography of Defoe in ten volumes. He collaborated in numerous literary undertakings, for example Colonial Prose and Poetry, editions of Shakespeare and Thackeray and the Cambridge History of American Literature.
In 1896 William P. Trent married Alice Lyman. They had two children, Lucia Trent and William P. Trent Jr. He resided in Hopewell Junction, New York. Trent died on December 7, 1939 in Hopewell Junction.
