Alexander Smith papers, 1900-1919

Series II: Personal, 1905-1919

This series consists of correspondence and printed matter relating to Smith's personal activities. Correspondence includes letters with his family in Scotland, with various vendors regarding bills and services, information regarding investments, insurance, real estate in Chicago, and his country cottage in Pulaski, VA. Of particular note among the family correspondence is that with his sister Isabella and other family members in Scotland regarding a visit by Alexander Smith and his family in the summer in the 1912. The "Correspondence, L.F. Barker" file contains more letters between Smith and this Baltimore doctor about his father-in-law's illness as well as that of his little boy Billie who was quite ill during 1916. The combination of correspondence with vendors, friends and family in this series gives one a small sense of what was involved in running an upper-middle class household in New York City in the 1910s. To aid the researcher, below is a list of family members and their relationship to Smith: Sara (nee Bowles): wife Billie and Isabel: children Mr. and Mrs. William Bowles of Memphis, TN: in-laws Potter Bowles of Chicago, IL: brother-in-law Isabella (Mrs. James Rae) of Edinburgh, Scotland: sister Jane and John Stewart Smith of Portobello, Scotland: aunt and uncle