A collection of letters (family and professional), notebooks, diaries, lectures, articles, and photographs, of Smith, a noted American geographer who influenced the teaching of geography after 1920 through his many elementary texts. There is much material relating to these writings. His contributions to the rise of human geography and the related areas of conservation and ecology, are documented. His study in Europe under Friedrich Ratzel, at Leipzig in 1901-1912, is touched on in his journal for those years; included are many interesting observations on German university life. There is also much material on his nursery business in Virginia. Organizational files are numerous, e.g. Association of American Geographers, Columbia University, U. S. Department of Agriculture. Much of the correspondence is limited to only a few letters from each correspondent. Among the names included are: Willard G. Bixby, Isaiah Bowman, John W. Hershey, Emory R. Johnson, Walter C. Lowdermilk (of particular note is his 1926 paper, written while at the University of Nanking, "Forest Conservation in Shansi, China"), and Lewis Mumford.

William S. Willis Jr. (1921-1983), anthropologist and ethnohistorian, contributed significantly to the understanding of the dynamics of inter-cultural exchange in a multicultural context. After receiving his doctorate from Columbia University, he was hired as the first African American professor of Anthropology at Southern Methodist University. Upon resigning in protest from SMU in 1972, he returned to teach at Columbia University until 1975. His final years were spent studying Boasian anthropology. The collection includes correspondence, lecture notes, manuscripts of Willis' writings, and working notes. Of note, are the memos concerning his leaving Southern Methodist University and his extensive research notes on Franz Boas' views on race relations in America.

One of the seminal figures in the emergence of the Modern or Neo-Darwinian Synthesis during the mid-twentieth century, George Gaylord Simpson (1902-1984) helped define the unique contribution made by vertebrate paleontology to the life sciences. A specialist in Mesozoic and early Cenozoic mammals, Simpson's contributions to the fusion of Darwinian natural selection and Mendelian genetics were both empirical and theoretical, culminating in his major works Tempo and Mode in Evolution and The Meaning of Evolution. From his posts at the American Museum of Natural History (1927-1959), Columbia University (1945-1959), Harvard (1959-1967), and the University of Arizona (1967-1984), Simpson became one of the most influential paleontologists of the century, helped in part by his ability to write successfully for both a technical, professional audience and a popular audience. The Simpson Papers include a comprehensive assemblage of professional and personal correspondence, reflecting nealy all phases of Simpson's career. Written with charm, wit, and a sense of literary style, the correspondence touches on all aspects of modern paleontology, providing an important perspective on the emergence of contemporary evolutionary theory, biogeography, systematic theory and methodology, the relationship of science and religion, and creationism, as well as more general issues in scientific epistemology and social and political issues. The collection also includes autobiographical data and writings, lectures, class notes and papers, research data, material on his scientific expeditions (diaries in carbon form, photos, notes, etc.), publication material (he was author of some 800 publications), extensive photographic material, diplomas, and medals.