Interwar Period and WWII (1919-1945)

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    Edward Dudley's Commission as Ambassador to Liberia

    In 1948, President Truman appointed Edward R. Dudley to serve as U.S. Minister to Liberia. Dudley was a civil rights lawyer from New York who worked at the NAACP with Thurgood Marshall. At the time of Dudley’s appointment, the U.S. Government represented its interests through a legation in Monrovia. In 1949, Truman…

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    Germany Basic Handbook

    American diplomat Arthur Tienken used this handbook while serving in the Kreis Resident Officer Program in Germany after World War II. Resident Officers were U.S. representatives posted throughout Germany. They developed relations with the local populations and assisted in the transition from a post-war U.S.-occupied government to one under German control. Published…

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    Constance Harvey's Dog Tags

    These wartime dog tags belonged to Foreign Service Officer Constance R. Harvey, one of the first women in the Foreign Service. Harvey was awarded the Medal of Freedom in 1947 for her meritorious service with the French Underground from 1941-1942. Her citation reads, in part: “Despite close surveillance by Gestapo agents and…

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    Lester Schnare's German Diplomatic ID Card

    Diplomatic identification card issued to U.S. Consul Lester L. Schnare in Hamburg, Germany, 1935. Identification documents of various types are frequently issued by host governments to resident diplomats.

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    Chinese Language Training Flashcards

    All U.S. Foreign Service Chinese Language Officers were trained in Peking (Beijing) from 1902 until 1949, when U.S. diplomatic and consular representation on China’s mainland ceased. This set of over 2,000 handmade Chinese-English flash cards stored in a custom decorative box was used by a U.S. Foreign Service Officer assigned to Peking…

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    Henry White’s 1910 Exhibition Pass

    U.S. diplomat Henry White’s pass to visit the exhibition at the 1910 Pan-American Congress in Buenos Aires, Argentina. White, whose 30 year diplomatic career included serving as Ambassador to Italy and France, was once praised by President Theodore Roosevelt as “the most useful man in the entire diplomatic service.”

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    Congratulatory Letter to Joseph Grew

    June 1927 “best wishes” letter to Undersecretary of State Joseph C. Grew upon his appointment as Ambassador to Turkey. Signed by Secretary of State Frank B. Kellog and nine pages’ worth of Grew’s State Department colleagues.

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    Photo of 2nd Foreign Service Class

    Photograph of the 2nd Foreign Service class to graduate under the auspices of the Rogers Act of 1924, which merged the separate U.S. diplomatic and consular services into the combined Foreign Service. This photograph was taken in September 1925 on the steps of the State, War, and Navy Building (now the Eisenhower…

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    Joseph Nye's Special Agent Credentials

    Issued to Joseph M. Nye, March 26, 1920. The first Chief Special Agent for the State Department was Joseph Nye, a former Secret Service agent. Nye had a distinguished tenure and stepped down in May 1920. The State Department's Office of Security later became the Bureau of Diplomatic Security.

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    Lester Schnare's "Passeport Diplomatique"

    Diplomatic passport issued to U.S. Consul Lester L. Schnare, 1920. He used this passport for 19 years – until 1939 – and filled several pages with stamps and visas. During this period, Schnare served as a Consul in Japan, China, Colombia, Germany, and Italy.