Header Image: Eleanor and Lawrence celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary. Smith-Houston-Morris-Ogden Family Papers, Series 74. Lawrence M.C. and Eleanor Houston Smith Papers.
In 1992, the five children of Lawrence M.C. and Eleanor Houston Smith donated their family’s extensive papers to the American Philosophical Society. Lawrence M.C. Smith was an assistant attorney general who served three different presidential administrations in a variety of roles, including Deputy Chief Director of the Investment Trust Study done by the Securities and Exchange Commission in the 1940s. After moving his family back to Philadelphia in 1948, Smith became a civic leader. He was a chairman of the Philadelphia Board of Trade and founded WFLN, a classical music radio station. Eleanor H. Smith was also heavily involved in local matters, including co-founding the Schuylkill Valley Nature Center (now known as the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education).
Lawrence M.C. Smith (“Sam”), Hubert Humphrey, and Albert M. Greenfield in an undated photo signed by Humphrey. Smith-Houston-Morris-Ogden Family Papers, Series 72. Lawrence M.C. Smith Papers.
At around 350 linear feet, the Smith-Houston-Ogden-Morris Papers (known around the office as SHMO) is made up of 85 series, each relating to either an individual or branch of family related to the Smiths. Some families historically connected to the Smiths through marriage include the Bonnell, Boude, Clemson, Clarkson, Darby, Kenner, Levis, Hayes, Massey, and Wood families. Several of these families include early APS Members. The dates range from the 1650s to the 1980s, though the bulk of material is from the 1780s to the 1930s.
SHMO was worked on by an archivist from 1995 to 1997, during which time a comprehensive finding aid was compiled and some series were processed. While not every series has a container listing/inventory or is even processed, all but a few series have very comprehensive scope and contents notes thanks to this work. However, because the unified finding aid is 371 pages, it wasn’t a quick task to enter the finding aid into the APS’s online catalogue. Earlier this year, I decided to take on the project of making SHMO functional, i.e. putting the finding aid into ArchivesSpace, and it is now requestable/usable by researchers! I will note that I have not rehoused or reprocessed any material; my aim has been to enter container listings and assign extents (i.e. box numbers) so researchers can request materials.
Martha Jefferson Randolph to Ann Cary Morris, 1828 January 14. Smith-Houston-Morris-Ogden Family Papers, Series 42. Ann Cary Randolph Morris Papers.
Certain series have item-level processing and description. Significant among these are the papers of founding father Gouverneur Morris, close friend of Alexander Hamilton and the American ambassador to Revolutionary France; Ann Cary Randolph Morris, Gouverneur’s wife and cousin/sister-in-law of Martha Jefferson Randolph; and Gouverneur Morris, Jr., their son and an early railroad investor who built St. Ann’s Church in the modern-day Bronx in remembrance of his mother. These three series cover dates from the Early Republic to the 1870s. Another significant series is the Isaac Ogden Papers, for researchers who have an interest in early to mid 19th-century merchants.
Another processed series is the Henry Howard Houston II (1895-1918) papers, which is almost entirely digitized and in the digital library, for researchers interested in WWI France and the regimental history of the 28th Division of the Pennsylvania National Guard ("Iron Division"). There are many, many photographs here. His grandfather, Henry Howard Houston (1820-1895), was the largest landowner in Philadelphia during the 1880s and developed the Wissahickon Heights neighborhood of Philadelphia. The family seat was at Druim Moir, and Houston Hall at the University of Pennsylvania is named after Houston’s son Henry Howard Houston, Jr. (1858-1879), who passed during a trip to Europe.
“Chinese laborer in France”. Smith-Houston-Morris-Ogden Family Papers, Series 17. Henry Howard Houston II Papers, Sub-Series 17.F. Graphics.
There's also a wealth of interesting materials relating to mid-20th-century Philadelphia political and civic involvement from Lawrence M.C. and Eleanor H. Smith-related series (Series 72-75). These series are partly processed. The family was also very involved in historic and natural preservation. Eleanor and her cousin Margaret Houston Meigs founded the Schuylkill Valley Nature Center by donating the land the Center is located on. The Smith family also founded Wolfe’s Neck Center for Agriculture & the Environment in Maine; Wolfe’s Neck was their former organic beef farming operation and summer home.
This is a collection with a massive amount of deeds, indentures, and bonds. Series 85 holds the majority, but there are random legal documents of all kinds, including wills and at least one marriage certificate, in other series. There are also various family branch genealogies and maps, plus illustrations, photographs, account books, scrapbooks, and, of course, correspondence.