William Peterfield Trent was born in Richmond, Va. He received the M.A. degree from the University of Virginia in 1884 and a Ph.D. from John Hopkins University. He was professor of English at the University of the South, 1888-1900, and at Columbia University, 1900-1929. Trent's Life of William Gilmore Simms was published in 1892.He was also editor-in-chief of the Cambridge History of American Literature and was co-editor of the Columbia University edition of the complete writings of John Milton (1931). Trent married Alice Lyman (d. 1921) in 1896. Their children were Lucia Trent Cheney, who wrote poetry, and cartoonist William P. Trent, Jr. Correspondence and other materials relating to Trent and his family. Correspondence, 1890-1899, is chiefly from Trent while on the faculty of the University of the South to various colleagues, editors, and others interested in his work. Many of these letters relate to Trent's book on William Gilmore Simms.Correspondence, 1904-1927, chiefly relates to projects on which Trent was working while at Columbia University. Letters, 1940-1944, are mainly about Franklin Walker's compilation of information for a biography of Trent. There are also a few poems and other writings by Trent; genealogical notes relating to the Trent and other families; biographical information about Trent; and a few family photographs.
