William Peterfield Trent

William Peterfield Trent, LL.D., D.C.L. (10 November 1862 – 1939) was a professor of English literature at Columbia University, an American editor, and a historian.

He was born in Richmond, Virginia. His grandfather, Joseph Trent, had an M.D.had degree from the University of Pennsylvania. His father, Peterfield Trent, was a surgeon for the Confederate during the war, and his mother, née Lucy Carter Burwell, came from a long line of Virginians. In 1896 William P.Trent married Alice Lyman. They had two children, Lucia Trent Chaney and William P. Trent Jr.

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 that 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.

Trent accepted an offer to teach at Sewanee, The University of the South while still in school. He was 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 (1892) and edited The Sewanee Review. He also created the Sewannee Historical Society at the University of the South and spoke with Vanderbilt Southern History Society at Nashville. Both groups were developed in the hopes of building a stronger collection of history in the south.

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