Rita Smith’s Papers contain thoughts, ideas, and stories that span nearly five decades and topics that embody the breadth of human emotion and experience. The collection itself is made up of journalistic research, notes, rough drafts, published articles and correspondences, as well as photographs of a personal and journalistic nature. Contextually, Rita Smith published her first article in 1944, during the Second World War, and published articles well into the 1980’s. She wrote about the transformation of people as it was occurring. This collection is infinitely rich, because Rita had a love for people and life that reflects in her words throughout her career. Discover the columns she wrote like "Getting It Together," "It's Your World," and “All People,” as well as the many feature articles that often touched on difficult issues. The topics are as varied as her subjects and the places she visited. One only need to begin reading to get lost in the world she experienced every day. There are also letters from readers who wrote with their own stories in hope that she would tell it better than they could themselves. Her notes are varied and sometimes difficult to read. However, as a whole they offer a perspective of a journalist, a columnist, and an adventuring world traveler. Her travel journals and articles are fantastic and offer an opportunity to see the world through her eyes, first-hand, about what was happening in other parts of the world.