Showing 111–120 of 164 results
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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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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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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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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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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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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.
Public Program
On May 30, the National Museum of American Diplomacy partnered with the Embassy of Japan, the Secretary’s Office on Civil Rights, the Bureau of East…
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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…
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1859 U.S. passport used by businessman Samuel Mills Waller of Connecticut. The unusual symbol at the top – an eagle with a lyre – was added to the U.S. passport design by Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, who served from 1817-1825. Adams developed the seal himself, which symbolizes the civilizing effect…
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Martin Van Buren served as the 10th U.S. Secretary of State from 1829-1831. Following his tenure as Secretary, Van Buren was elected Vice President under Jackson (1833-1837) and then was elected President, serving until 1841. His accomplishments as Secretary of State include a settlement with Great Britain to allow trade with the…
