[1868-1870]

Nine pocket diaries from the years 1867, 1868, 1871-1872, 1874-1875, 1877-1878, and 1880, containing brief holograph entries documenting Smith's activities as a law student at the University of Michigan; his early involvement in organizing clubs for young Democratics; his travels in the West, to the Northeast, and to his family home in Indiana, by steamer, stagecoach, and train; his work as a district and a criminal attorney in Texas; and his social and religious activities. Individuals mentioned in Smith's diaries include friends J. A. Cheneworth, John R. Higdon and Joseph W. Waddell, and his brothers Joseph and Zachary of Bonham, Texas; Thomas J. Brown and J. W. Throckmorton, Smith's friends and law partners in Sherman, Texas; and James Preston, whom Smith defended in his Dallas, Texas murder trial.

The daily entries in the diaries are followed by names and addresses of acquaintances, personal financial accounts, and miscellaneous notes. A pocket notebook dated 1870 Dec 26 contains copies in Smith's hand of forms of indictment for various crimes.