L. Gerard Smith (1871-1940), born Louis W. Schmidt, was a business executive for the Vapor Car Heating Company based in Brooklyn, New York, and the Vapor Car Heating Company of Canada, Limited, in Montreal, Quebec. Smith worked at E.W. Curtis's print shop in New York City until 1886. Between 1893 and 1905, he worked as a mailman in Brooklyn, joining the National Association of Letter Carriers, an affiliate of the Knights of Labor. Smith left the Post Office for a clerical career in 1905. He worked with the Saftey Car Heating and Lighting Company, railroad hardware manufacturers, and 1913 was made general manager of Spindler & Deringer of Jersey City. Smith later became the general manager of the Vapor Car Heating Company, and in 1922 when the company was required to create a separate subsidiary to enter the Canadian market, Smith was named general manager of the Vapor Car Heating Company of Canada, Limited in Montreal, Quebec. These personal papers cover the period between 1893 and 1939 of the life of L. Gerard Smith. The letters are personal and candid, depicting Smith's large extended (and adoptive) family and the methods by which they helped support each other. The letters also provide insight into Smith's professional life, with correspondence between his business connections, particularly those he connected with through the Masons and the YMCA.