Helen Ainslie Smith was the author of books on the ancient world and colonial American history. The papers contain correspondence with family and friends, family photographs, work notes, and other materials.

Genealogies, publications, photographs, armories, letters, and documents pertaining to the family histories and forebears of Edward Byron Smith, former chairman of the Northern Trust Corporation of Chicago, and of his wife, Louise Dewey Smith. Papers also include documents pertaining to Northern Trust's founding by Smith's grandfather, Byron Laflin Smith, and the family's ongoing relationship to the corporation.