The collection comprises: letters to Arthur Hamilton Smith, including one from John Forsdyke, April 1939, on the controversial British Museum cleaning of the Parthenon sculptures, c. 27 items, 1903-1939; Smith's 'Statement of Services' and testimonials in application for the position of Keeper of Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum, 1908; notebooks kept on archaeological expeditions in Asia Minor, 1884 (includes two photographs) and Cyprus, 1890s; 'Letts Oblong Diary, 1909' containing an account of travels in Greece, Egypt and Italy.
Personal material of Arthur Hamilton Smith includes a notebook labelled ""Annals of the C[ambridge University Fencing Club, founded 1882"; diary, 1883-1890 (with gaps); [Apostles Society dinner] menus, 1885-1888; notebook kept by Smith recording outgoings on his 'Cash Account', 1897-1936; photograph of Smith as a young man and another of his house in Rome; material relating to his being appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1926.
There are also letters and postcards from Arthur Hamilton Smith to his wife Gertrude (59 items, 1897-1922), sister Daisy /Margaret (1881), and mother Susan (74 items, 1881-1912); these often include accounts of his work and travels, and sometimes sketches; occasional items are written in shorthand. Letters to Susan Smith from schoolmasters about her son Arthur (1872, 1879) and his reports from Winchester College (1874-1877), Herbert Kitchener about her son Charlie (1883?), and letters from Gertrude and Blomfield Jackson written on Gertrude's engagement to Arthur (1897); letters to Gertrude on her engagement from Margaret Smith (1897), and on the death of her husband (1941).
Fifteen letters to Elizabeth Hamilton Smith from her parents (1903-1932) and one from 'Archie' (1962); this last appears to relate to a letter of the same date about the Shell Periphery Camera sent to A[rchibald?] Parker Smith and asking for further details about Arthur Hamilton Smith's patent 'Cyclograph', regarding which there is further correspondence of Elizabeth Hamilton Smith, as well as the original award of the patent in 1895.
Legal and financial material, much to do with family trusts and property (c 15 items, 1896-1921), as well as printed material such as the obituary of Arthur Hamilton Smith by F. G. Kenyon in the "Proceedings of the British Academy", 1941.
