Diplomatic Reception Rooms, U.S. Department of State

View of The John Quincy Adams State Drawing Room

The Diplomatic Reception Rooms at the U.S. Department of State constitute forty-two principal rooms and offices where the Secretary of State conducts the business of modern diplomacy. Located in the Harry S Truman Building, Washington, D.C., the Diplomatic Reception Rooms contain one of the nation’s foremost museum collections of American fine and decorative arts.

Masterpieces in the collections are assembled from the early Federal period, c. 1790-1815. These masterpieces are interwoven into an interpretative narrative that explores U.S. diplomatic history: charting of the new world and the colonial foundations, the nation’s road to independence and birth of the United States, and expansion westward over the years 1740-1840. The Diplomatic Reception Rooms are a national treasure that belongs to the American people. It is the People that support the vital activities of the Diplomatic Reception Rooms. Charitable contributions from private citizens, foundations and corporations support revitalization and expansion initiatives, collections maintenance and conservation, and educational programming.

Collections

Visitors experience diplomacy firsthand through the masterpieces of the collection. On September 3, 1783, the Treaty of Paris (1783), establishing peace with Great Britain after the American Revolutionary War, was signed on this Tambour Writing Table. This diplomatic achievement is depicted in the collection’s unfinished painting, after Benjamin West’s 1782 original, “The American Commissioners of the Preliminary Peace Negotiations with Great Britain.” Hand-wrought silver by patriot-silversmith Paul Revere, porcelain wares from George Washington’s Society of Cincinnati, and companion portraits of John Quincy and Louisa Catherine Adams, 1816, by artist Charles Robert Leslie are among the national treasures.

Visiting the Collections

Guided tours of the Diplomatic Reception Rooms are available by appointment. Guided tours take visitors through the Edward Vason Jones Memorial Hall, Entrance Hall andGallery, John Quincy Adams State Drawing Room, Thomas Jefferson Reception Room, and Benjamin Franklin Dining Room. Admission is free. Tours can be scheduled online at https://receptiontours.state.gov

Publications

• Conger, Clement E. and Alexandra W. Rollins. Treasures of State: Fine and Decorative Arts in the Diplomatic Reception Rooms of the U.S. Department of State. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1991.
• Ward, Gerald W.R., ed. Becoming a Nation: Americana from the Diplomatic Reception Rooms U.S. Department of State. New York: Rizzoli, 2003.

Further reading

• www.MuseumsUSA.org
• Traveling Exhibitions Gail F. Serfaty, Becoming a Nation: Americana from the Diplomatic Reception Rooms. Sack Heritage Group. Retrieved 2011-01-12.
• Educational Programs & Activities United States Senate Youth Program Forty-Seventh Annual Washington Week, 2009. Retrieved 2011-01-12.
• Visiting the Collections William Whitman, Washington, D.C. Off the Beaten Path, Fourth Edition: A Guide to Unique Places. www.googlebooks.com. Retrieved 2011-01-12.
• For Kids Ages 12 and Up Beth Rubin, Frommer's Washington D.C. with Kids, Part Three. www.googlebooks.com. Retrieved 2011-01-12.

External links

• The Diplomatic Reception Rooms Official Website: https://diplomaticrooms.state.gov/default.aspx