Scope and Contents: The collection includes Smith's notes and working drafts used for the preparation of his publications, a record of his professional activities as the Carnegie Institution of Washington's Guatemala City representative, photographs of Mesoamerican pottery, and correspondence between Smith and other Mesoamericanists of his time. The collection provides important biographical and collaborative information about Smith, as well as the history of Mesoamerican archaeology. The majority of documents in the collection are not dated, thus (ca.) is used for approximate date.
Series I: Correspondence: Includes letters, filed alphabetically, to and from many Mesoamerican archaeologists of the first two-thirds of the twentieth century. Also includes circulated and informational correspondence about and between these archaeologists.
Series II: Notes and Drafts: Includes notes and drafts that Smith compiled for research and publication. The majority are written in pencil and some are not discernable as to the exact site or subject, and a number are very detailed or extensive in ceramic data and nomenclature. Folders are separated into four sections by site: Pyramid of the Sun: 1-54; Mayapan: 55-57; Uaxactun: 58-64; and miscellaneous notes and drafts: 65-94
Series III: Professional Activities: Includes material relating to Smith's work with the Carnegie Institute of Washington, Institute Nacional de Antropologia, conferences, and societies.
Series IV: Smith's Publications: Includes Smith's monographs and published articles.
Series V: Publications by Smith's Contemporaries: Alphabetical listing of published articles and monographs in the collection written by Smith's contemporaries. Also included are one folder of Spanish language monographs of various authors and subjects; six folders of miscellaneous scholarly published monographs covering a number of topics, and two folders of newspaper clippings and articles written about various archaeological subjects.
Series VI: Miscellany: Includes items that were not identifiable for other sections in the collection, such as Central American maps, and guide booklets to ruins.
Series VII: Photographs: Includes many photographs, some negatives and slides of Mesoamerican pottery, figurines, and sherds. Each folder is identified by site in alphabetical order, and many of the photographs have written descriptions on the back. One folder, labeled miscellaneous photos, contains a number of unidentified photographs.
Series VIII: Note and Bibliographic Cards: Includes approximately three hundred 3x5, 5x7, and 5x11 index cards describing ceramics. Some have extensive information on particular ceramic pieces. There are also four boxes of bibliographic information cards on a number of Mesoamerican ceramic publications.
Series IX: Oversize: Includes graphic display material, and a site settlement map of Litio de Coba, Quintana Roo.