The collection consists of drafts of Smith's M.A. thesis and Ph.D. dissertation. "The Life of Alexander Horton" (1936) is a biography of a San Augustine citizen prominent in early Texas history. The manuscript traces Horton's family background and domestic life, his opposition to the Fredonian Rebellion, and his experiences in the Texas Revolution, Cherokee War, and Regulator-Moderator War.

"A. J. Rose, Agrarian Crusader of Texas" (1938) is the biography of a leader of the Grange organization in Texas and Oklahoma in the last three decades of the 19th Century, Archibald Johnson Rose. Both manuscripts are typescripts with handwritten notes and corrections.