The Nisqually and Puyallup peoples are Native Americans based in Washington State.

[6] In 1956, she began teaching part-time in the Anthropology Department of the London School of Economics.

[6] In the same year, William Buller Fagg was replaced as the Royal Anthropological Institute's General Secretary by Smith.

[1] In 1958, she worked with the Rivers Memorial Medal winner Brenda Seligman to create the Royal Anthropological Institute's endowment fund.

The fund was able to bankroll various symposia including ones on the artist in tribal society, the domestication of cattle, and race relations.