and for three years was general historian of the National Society of the Sons of the Revolution; is a member of the Metropolitan club of Washington, District of Columbia, and of several historical societies. He belongs to the Republican party. He formerly enjoyed horseback riding, more recently pedestrianism. He was "born in the Episcopal church," but affiliating with no church for some years, in 1901 he was received into the Roman Catholic communion.
He says, "My own ambition made me a writer; my taste impelled me to historical writing, and the impulse toward this form of writing has been with me from youth; the industry and application came when I was about eighteen. Since then I have worked hard. Private studies chosen by myself and prosecuted by myself were the strongest influence in my career. I was always a thoughtful reader, although not a steady one till I reached manhood; my education began then. My work has been impersonal. My publications have been of the character which does not arouse interest in the personality of the writer." Among his books are: "The Seal of the United States" (1892); "The Department of State of the United States: Its History and Functions" (1892); "The American Passport" (1898); "Life of James Madison" (1902), which is "the standard life of the great father of the Constitution, and has been generally so accepted by scholars." "The Writings of James Madison," the sixth volume of which is about to be issued 1904, contains the first absolutely correct print of the Madison journal of the debates in the convention which framed the Constitution of the United States. Mr. Hunt is preparing the "Life of John C. Calhoun," to be issued in 1906 in the American Crisis Series, and other historical volumes. Mr. Hunt makes official heraldry a fad and has attained a unique and unsought for distinction by designing the arms of Porto Rico, of The Department of Commerce and Labor, and of the Philippine Islands.
He was married October 24, 1901, to Mary Goodfellow. They had one child living in 1904.
