Scope and Content Note
The papers of Margaret Bayard Smith (1778-1844) span the years 1789-1874, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the period 1796-1840. The collection includes family and general correspondence, diaries, journals, and commonplace books. The bulk of the papers consists of family correspondence between Smith and her sisters Jane Bayard Kirkpatrick and Maria Bayard Boyd, and her husband, journalist and banker Samuel Harrison Smith (1772-1845). Other correspondents include Mary Hering Middleton, A. Emilie Pichon, and Eliza Susan Morton Quincy. Topics covered include Washington, D.C., social life, presidential elections, the British occupation of Washington in 1814, and visits to Monticello, Virginia.