The series consists of diaries kept by Jori Smith. Also included is some correspondence between Jori Smith and Jean Palardy, and with the Palardy family and Jori Smith's mother, as well as some correspondence from Jori Smith to Madeleine Lemieux.
Among the diaries is one kept by Jori Smith in 1949, during a summer camping trip with her then husband Jean Palardy to Petite-Rivière and the Gaspé, partly written in English and partly written in French. It begins with an account of some days spent in Petite-Rivière, describing visits to their neighbours, the Simards (and attempting through verbatim recordings of conversation to capture the character of Charlevoix rural society), and describing furniture hunting with Palardy. The diary then follows Smith and Palardy on a trip to the Gaspé, describing a visit to folklorist Carmen Roy, camping at Mont St-Pierre and elsewhere along the way, and meeting a Red Cross doctor and a gamekeeper and recounting their stories of Gaspé. The diary contains four sketches by Jori Smith, including a ballpoint pen drawing of the landscape at Matane, a pencil self-portrait, a ballpoint pen landscape at Grand Madeleine, and an incomplete crayon portrait of Palardy.
In general, the diaries record Smith's painting (documenting her progress on specific canvasses, her doubts about the work, her successes and her failures), her travels, her relationships with other painters and writers, her reading, her views on politics, and other subjects. A 1944 diary includes sketches of early Quebec furniture, with a list of items in Jean Palardy's hand. A 1977 diary records a trip to Charlevoix County, with visits to Gabrielle Roy, and contains small aide-memoire sketches; it also contains some photos of Philip Stratford and party on the Riviera, and describes a trip to Philadelphia to see the Barnes Collection. A second, pocket, diary of 1977 relates to the Philadelphia trip and includes a few ballpoint pen sketches. The 1978 diaries describe trips to France, Sardinia and Portugal. A 1979 diary includes many references to the Stratford family, her acquisition of a piano, and a Fred Taylor visit. Another 1979 diary describes a trip taken to visit museums in the west, in the company of Alice and Toby Johnson (neighbours in Senneville and art collectors). A 1984 diary discusses her Winnipeg exhibition, private sales, the death of Norman McLaren - recalling their friendship, and contains references to Philip Surrey, Max Stern and the Dominion Gallery, and an ill-fated business dealing. A 1992-1993 diary comments on a Jeanne Rheaume exhibition at Klinkhoff's Gallery, recounts stories about Philip and Margaret Surrey, and talks of Jean-Paul Lemieux.
