Restrictions to Access

In some letters, certain passages were marked for use by the recipient only. Those wishing to quote or make other use of these passages should obtain permission from Peter Franklin Walker of Chapel Hill, N.C.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the William Peterfield Trent papers #4732, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received in November 1994 (Acc. 94171) from Anna Lansdell Hall (UNC Class of 1984); Wesley Walker Hall (UNC Class of 1987); Susanne Ascher Walker (UNC Class of 1992); and Franklin Trenaby Walker II (UNC Class of 1996).

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Processed by: Roslyn Holdzkom, February 1995

Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• College teachers--United States--History.
• Columbia University--Faculty--History--20th century.
• Columbia University. Dept. of English and Comparative Literature--History--20th century.
• Simms, William Gilmore, 1806-1870.
• Trent family.
• Trent, William Peterfield, 1862-1939.
• University of the South--Faculty--History--19th century.
• Walker, Franklin T.

William Peterfield Trent was born in Richmond, Va., on 10 November 1862. He received the M.A. degree from the University of Virginia in 1884 and a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University.

From 1885 to 1887, Trent taught school and studied law in Richmond. He joined the faculty of the University of the South in 1888 as professor of English, continuing in that capacity until 1900. During that time, he also served as dean of the Academic Department and as editor or co-editor of The Sewanee Review. From 1900 until 1929, he was professor of English literature at Columbia University in New York.

Trent's Life of William Gilmore Simms was published in 1892. He was editor-in-chief of the Cambridge History of American Literature. Other works included Southern Statesmen of the Old Regime, Robert E. Lee, John Milton: A Short Study of His Life and Works, War and Civilization, The Progress of the United States in the Eighteenth Century, History of American Literature, Greatness in Literature , and Longfellow and Other Essays.

For more than 20 years, Trent was engaged in preparation of an exhaustive biography and bibliography of Daniel Defoe. He was also co-editor of the Columbia University edition of the complete writings of John Milton, which was published in 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.

• P-4723/1-3