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William Carlson Smith was born 1883 and graduated in 1907 from Grand Island College, Grand Island Nebraska, where he majored in arts and letters. Smith held various positions in his early career: high school principal, teacher, Red Cross worker, field worker and probation officer. Dr. Smith did educational work in Assam, India under the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society from 1912 to 1915.

Following his return to the United States Smith continued his studies at the University of Southern California and the University of Chicago, majoring in sociology. He went on to hold positions in the sociology departments of various universities.

In the 1920s, Smith worked as a researcher on the Survey of Race Relations, a Canadian-American project whose goal was to investigate "relations between Orientals and whites on the Pacific Coast" ( Tentative Findings of the Survey of Race Relations. Stanford University: 1925). The survey collected demographic and economic data regarding Japanese and Chinese immigrants and their children, and gave particular attention to the impact of race- and immigration-related legislation such as the "anti-alien land" laws. This research formed part of the basis for Smith's book Americans in the Making.

During his tenure at Texas Christian University (1929-1933), Smith became actively involved in a drive to investigate the University's administrative policies through the American Association of University Professors. Smith and his followers charged that nepotism and favoritism combined with poor management of funds had compromised the University to the extent that faculty had no job security and were often dismissed without cause.

Perhaps Smith's most important work was his 1953 book The Stepchild, which was the culmination of fifteen years of research and study. Smith did much of the research in Oregon while at Linfield College. This collection contains a large section of manuscript materials related to The Stepchild.

Other fields investigated by Smith were immigration and second generation Asian Americans in America. These interests are reflected in a number of articles by Smith that are included in the collection.