The Treaty of Portsmouth (Portsmouth Peace Treaty)

Weeks Memorial Library Hosts Lancaster 250^th Program: “Teddy Roosevelt’s Nobel Peace Prize Diplomacy, Lancaster’s Denison and the Portsmouth Peace Treaty” on June 30

Lancaster, NH (May 19, 2014) – As part of the 2014 celebration of Lancaster NH’s 250^th birthday, a special program at the Weeks Public Library will take a closer look at “native son” Henry Willard Denison, who grew up in Lancaster and attended Lancaster Academy before becoming senior legal counsel to the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Denison died 100 years ago, on July 3, 1914.

On Monday, June 30^th at 7 pm, the Weeks Memorial Library welcomes NH Humanities Council speaker Charles B. Doleac, founder/moderator of the Portsmouth Peace Treaty Forum, to present a program describing President Theodore Roosevelt’s multi-track diplomacy that included the Russian and Japanese delegations, the US Navy and New Hampshire hosts in the thirty days of negotiations that resulted in the Portsmouth Peace Treaty.

The Lancaster program is as NH Humanities Council “Humanities To Go” selection and is free and open to the public. A questions and answers session will follow the illustrated talk. For more information on the program, contact weekslibrary@ncia.net or 603-788-3352

Roosevelt earned America’s first Nobel Peace Prize in 1906 for his endeavors. Mr. Doleac will explain the role played by Henry Willard Denison, who accompanied the Japanese diplomatic delegation from Tokyo to Portsmouth in the summer of 1905 and visited his hometown of Lancaster that September after the Treaty he helped to draft was signed. Much of the information about Mr. Denison was discovered in the newspaper archives of Weeks Library.

Mr. Doleac, a Portsmouth attorney, is the author of An Uncommon Commitment to Peace: Portsmouth Peace Treaty 1905, the definitive history on the 30 days of the peace conference deliberations in Portsmouth. Co-founder of the Japan-America Society of NH, Atty. Doleac received the Foreign Minister of Japan’s Ordero f the Rising Sun, Gold rays with Rosette for his “outstanding contributions to international understanding” in recognition of the Portsmouth Peace Treaty.

Calendar of Events

For a month's view Calendar, click here.

May 31, 2024 10:00 AM
1905

For information about ordering fine art prints of this Treaty Centennial symbol, and other commemorative items, click here.

Twitter.com: @PortsmthTreaty

To learn more about the Japan-America Society of New Hampshire

Mailing address:
82 Court Street
Portsmouth NH 03801

To join the Japan-America Society of New Hampshire online, click here.

For information about the Russia Society of New Hampshire, write to
PO Box 177
Concord NH 03302-0177

For a Russian-language description of the Treaty exhibit click here.

For the Russian-language Library of Congress description of the Treaty of Portsmouth, click here.

News and Links

To learn nore, the following books are available:

Heroes & Friends: Behind the Scenes of the Treaty of Portsmouth by Michiko Nakanishi

There Are No Victors Here: A Local Perspective on the Treaty of Portsmouth by Peter E. Randall

Also available:

An Uncommon Commitment to Peace Exhibit Catalogue published by the Japan-America Society of NH

Blessed Are the Peacemakers: The Service of Thanksgiving for the Portsmouth Treaty, September 5, 1905 by Marina Grot Turkevich Naumann

Original 1905 newsreel footage on DVD

Treaty of Portsmouth 1905-2005 book of reproduction historical postcards.

The Portsmouth Peace Process: Guide for Teachers by Northeast Cultural Coop

Portsmouth Peace Treaty Trail

For hours, directions, details on the Portsmouth Historical Society museum where the Portsmouth Peace Treaty exhibit is displayed, click here.

For hours, directions, details on Strawbery Banke Museum and the Shapiro House, owned by one of the founders of Temple Israel who figured in the Treaty citizen diplomacy, click here.

For information about Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and Building 86 where the formal negotiations were held. click here.

For more information about Wentworth By the Sea Hotel, where both delegations stayed, click here.

For more information about Green Acre Bahai School and Sarah Farmer's commitment to the peace process, click here.

The Portsmouth Public Library maintains an micorfilm archive of local newspapers and an index of the relevant Treaty reporting and other related materials. The archive of original newspapers, photographs and other documents is maintained by the Portsmouth Athenaeum.