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."

This collection includes letters from, and drafts of letters to, scientists, artists, musicians, soldiers, political figures, and court personages throughout Europe, especially Italy and France. Topics covered range from personal and social affairs to agriculture, botany, geology, natural history, coinage, museum management, politics, weights and measures, current affairs. The collection also includes four diaries, housed separately with manuscript volumes.