This set of journals, copied legibly but with many excisions into the last volume, 914 Sm61, is from a tour of Germany, Denmark, Sweden, France, and England, to inspect technological improvements in manufacturing and mining. There are accounts of visits with C.D. Ebeling, Friedrich Klopstock, J.A.J. Reimarus, Anders Sparmann, and Karl P. Thunberg. Smith bequeathed this journal to the American Philosophical Society with the request that it be published if found to contain information "useful to the manufactories of my country."

The first fifteen volumes of these "Notes of Travel" are Lea's account of his trips to Europe during 1832 and 1852-1853. He met with naturalists, scientists, and did much sightseeing in England, France, Germany, Italy, and Austria. He records in detail visits and discussions with scientists, and makes sketches of many of the places he saw, particularly the Rhine River. The sixteenth volume is a memorandum book, 1853, containing accounts and expenses while in Europe.