View from the audience in the U.S. Department of State Exhibit Hall as Secretary Condoleezza Rice, standing rear l., delivers remarks about the Great Seal on February 12, 2008.

Condoleezza Rice directs remarks about the Great Seal to an audience in the U.S. Department of State Exhibit Hall, February 12, 2007.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice gestures as if holding the olive branch in her right hand, signifying peace. Diplomacy Center Acting Director Stephen Estrada stands to the right.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice turns toward an appreciative audience as she delivers remarks on the Great Seal at the commemorative event on February 12, 2008.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, r. displays the gift of replica documents to the Department of State from the Archivist of the United States, Alan Weinstein, l. The upper document reproduces the handwritten description of the Seal by its designer, Charles Thomson in 1782. The lower, the text of a typewritten speech by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1940, reflects on the Seal’s motto, “new order for the ages.”

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice examines the commission for Ambassador Pamela Bridgewater that she has just imprinted with the Great Seal press to the right. The Seal and cabinet stand in the Exhibit Hall of the U.S. Department of State.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice gazes at the document she has just sealed—the commission promoting Ambassador Pamela Bridgewater to the Class of Career Minister. The group standing inside the Great Seal enclosure includes the Secretary (left); Sharon Hardy, Chief, Office of Presidential Appointments and keeper of the Seal (center), and Archivist of the United States, Alan Weinstein (right).

Sharon Hardy, Chief, Office of Presidential Appointments, demonstrates to students how to imprint a Foreign Service commission with the Great Seal press. A young visitor looks on to the far left, while Marie Dorsey (center), and Ivette Marwell (right) of the Presidential Appointments Office stand behind the cabinet, ready to help.

Sharon Hardy, Chief, Office of Presidential Appointments holds a newly sealed Foreign Service commission for visiting students to see during the February 12, 2008 Great Seal commemorative event. The Seal press and cabinet are to the right.

A student from Arlington VA, with classmates behind her, slides the panel to learn about the symbolism of the Great Seal during the February 12, 2008 commemorative event in the Department’s Exhibit Hall.

A teacher and students from Kenmore Middle School, Arlington, VA view the Great Seal exhibit during the February 12, 2008 Great Seal commemoration event in the Department’s Exhibit Hall.

Visiting students view the historic dies of the Great Seal from the National Archives during the February 12, 2008 commemorative event in the Department’s Exhibit Hall.

Students from Kenmore Middle School, Arlington, VA, use the interactives in the Great Seal exhibit during the February 12, 2008 commemorative event in the Department’s Exhibit Hall.

Student artists with work in the traveling Great Seal exhibition pose with U.S. Diplomacy Center Acting Director Stephen Estrada and Senior Curator Priscilla R. Linn during the commemorative event at the U.S. Department of State February 12, 2008.

A teacher and students from Kenmore Middle School, Arlington, VA pose in front of the Great Seal enclosure during the February 12, 2008 commemorative event in the Department’s Exhibit Hall.

A student snaps a picture of the historic Great Seal dies visiting from the National Archives for the Great Seal event, while others observe them in the display case.