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Items from personal hygiene kit, c. 2014. A “personal hygiene kit” is a box of basic hygiene supplies, utilized by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance to help prevent outbreaks of communicable illness in disaster areas across the globe.
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Ornately decorated rice container with inscription and silk shawl decorated with silkworm cocoons along the fringe. During a July 2012 meeting, these were received by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as a gift from Laotian Foreign Minister Thongloun Sisoulith. The inscription on the rice container reads: "Souvenir from H.E. Dr. Thongloun SISOULITH,…
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This kerosene-powered projector from the U.S. Embassy in Singapore is an unusual device dating to the 1950s. It was used by diplomats, particularly those focused on public diplomacy efforts, to show slides or film strips to groups of people in areas with limited or no electricity.
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In April 1971, nine players from the U.S. Table Tennis team took a historic trip to China. Their trip was the start of what became known as “ping pong diplomacy” and helped lay the groundwork for establishing official diplomatic relations between the United States and China. This was issued in 1967 to…
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In April 1975, the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon fell to the North Vietnamese Army. American diplomats were on the frontlines, organizing what would be the most ambitious helicopter evacuation in history. In the city of Can Tho, Consul General Francis Terry McNamara was instructed to evacuate his 12 or so American…
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Diplomats sometimes must be well-versed in relationships that impact the politics and government of the country they are serving in. Political Officers are diplomats who specialize in this area. This large chart, organized similar to a family tree, was created by Foreign Service Officer James Nach while serving as a Political Officer…
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In the 1850s, after more than 200 years of self-imposed isolation, Japan opened up to trade dialogues with the United States and western Europe. The first Japanese delegation to the United States arrived in Washington, D.C. in 1860. They delivered a trade agreement, negotiated by Commodore Matthew Perry, which opened select Japanese…
Story of Diplomacy
On August 7, 1998, at 10:30 AM, U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania fell victim to coordinated and nearly simultaneous truck bombs – later linked…
Collection Highlights
May 13 marks the 218th anniversary of President Thomas Jefferson ordering U.S. naval vessels to stop Barbary interference with American trade in the Mediterranean. Jefferson’s…
Story of Diplomacy
During the Iranian Revolution, Michael Metrinko was the only diplomat at the U.S. Consulate in Tabriz, Iran. Despite threats to the Consulate, Metrinko chose to stay behind to support American citizens there. The choice nearly cost him his life.
