Lucas F. Smith diaries and notebooks, 1863-1880

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 printed pocket diary for 1863 contains Smith's notes on legal terms, a list of clothing received from the government between 1863 and 1865, and miscellaneous notes and financial records; a pocket notebook dated 1870 Dec 26 contains copies in Smith's hand of forms of indictment for various crimes. A printed voter registration certificate completed in manuscript for Smith dated 1873 August 5, West Sherman, Grayson County, Texas, and a letter of introduction dated 1874 Jun 10, were removed from the 1875 diary and placed in a separate folder. Publishers of the printed diaries include Denton & Wood (Pocket Diary for 1863) and the Erie Publishing Company (Improved Diary...by M. N. Lovell.)