diplomats in portsmouth, 1713-1905
For the Portsmouth NH 400th anniversary commemoration, the Portsmouth Peace Treaty Forum created a display of documents and artifacts that expanded the story of the Portsmouth Peace Treaty exhibit first created for the Treaty 100th anniversary in 2005. This “Diplomats in Portsmouth, 1713-1905” exhibition used rare historical objects to trace the record of diplomats with Portsmouth connections and connect the story of the 1713 Wabanaki and English Treaty of Portsmouth and the diplomats in or from Portsmouth who shaped America’s relationship with Japan through the 1905 Portsmouth Peace Treaty and beyond.
There are two threads to this story. The first introduces the official diplomats: Wabanaki emissaries, English Royal Governor Dudley, Edmund Roberts, Daniel Webster, Helen Peirce and the Russian and Japanese envoys. The second explores treaty negotiations in Portsmouth that provided unanticipated circumstances that gave local people opportunities to become citizen diplomats.
All of these diplomats with connections to Portsmouth contributed to the diplomatic history of a new nation as it rose from colonialism to becoming a player on the world stage. All are connected to treaties: the 1713 Treaty of Portsmouth, 1833 Treaties with Siam and Muscat, the 1854 Treaty of Kanagawa with Japan and the 1905 Portsmouth Peace Treaty. Rare objects include a wax portrait of Edmund Roberts and his Commission as United States negotiating agent signed by President Andrew Jackson, replicas of the Library of Congress copies of the 1713 and 1714 treaties and the signatures of prominent citizens and Wabanaki emissaries and newspaper accounts of pivotal citizen diplomacy moments during the 1905 peace conference. Maps show the physical Portsmouth locations linking the diplomats to the city.
“This exhibition focuses on an idea worth celebrating during the 400th anniversary: that individuals can make a difference,” said Portsmouth Peace Treaty Forum chair Charles B. Doleac. “From the first Treaty of Portsmouth in 1713 onward, these Diplomats in Portsmouth laid the foundation that allowed Portsmouth to become a place where, in the 21st century words of Japanese Ambassador Ryozo Kato, ‘Diplomats love Portsmouth, because here, diplomacy actually works.’”
In 2024, the Portsmouth Peace Treaty Forum enhanced the “Diplomats in Portsmouth” exhibit in the John Paul Jones House Museum to showcase the prominent diplomats featured in Forum events. The museum opens for the season on Thursday, May 23, 2024. Regular hours are Thursday-Monday, 11 am to 5 pm (last admission at 4:30 pm) and by appointment on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The Portsmouth Peace Treaty Forum was founded in 1994 to explore, through Japanese, Russian and American perspectives, the history of the Treaty of Portsmouth and its relevance to current issues involving the Northern Pacific region and provides a platform for examining US international diplomacy in the "spirit of the Portsmouth Peace Treaty.
Since then, the Forum has hosted senior diplomats including Ambassadors Dennis Ross and Samantha Power, Assistant Secretary of Defense Joseph S. Nye, Jr. and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. In February, the Forum welcomed Russian specialist and former National Security Advisor Fiona Hill. Hill first participated in the Portsmouth Peace Treaty Forum in 1995 when she joined Harvard Belfer Center Director Graham Allison for a panel with Russian and Japanese diplomats to discuss their study, Beyond Cold War to Trilateral Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific Region. Hill and Allison returned to the Forum in 2016 to “Reconsider the Trilateral Cooperation Study.”
“The exhibit features the Forum diplomats’ books and posters from the events,” said Charles B. Doleac, Forum chairman and senior partner at Boynton, Waldron, Doleac, Woodman & Scott PA Portsmouth. “The display underscores the ongoing research by the Forum to supplement the ‘Portsmouth Peace Treaty: An Uncommon Commitment to Peace’ exhibit, created in 2005 to present original research detailing the role of citizen diplomacy during the 1905 peace conference seeking an end to the Russo-Japanese War. Visitors will also learn about the 1713 Treaty of Portsmouth which sought to settle disputes between English settlers and the First Nations of the Seacoast who were being displaced by the colonists.”
There are two threads to this story. The first introduces the official diplomats: Wabanaki emissaries, English Royal Governor Dudley, Edmund Roberts, Daniel Webster, Helen Peirce and the Russian and Japanese envoys. The second explores treaty negotiations in Portsmouth that provided unanticipated circumstances that gave local people opportunities to become citizen diplomats.
All of these diplomats with connections to Portsmouth contributed to the diplomatic history of a new nation as it rose from colonialism to becoming a player on the world stage. All are connected to treaties: the 1713 Treaty of Portsmouth, 1833 Treaties with Siam and Muscat, the 1854 Treaty of Kanagawa with Japan and the 1905 Portsmouth Peace Treaty. Rare objects include a wax portrait of Edmund Roberts and his Commission as United States negotiating agent signed by President Andrew Jackson, replicas of the Library of Congress copies of the 1713 and 1714 treaties and the signatures of prominent citizens and Wabanaki emissaries and newspaper accounts of pivotal citizen diplomacy moments during the 1905 peace conference. Maps show the physical Portsmouth locations linking the diplomats to the city.
“This exhibition focuses on an idea worth celebrating during the 400th anniversary: that individuals can make a difference,” said Portsmouth Peace Treaty Forum chair Charles B. Doleac. “From the first Treaty of Portsmouth in 1713 onward, these Diplomats in Portsmouth laid the foundation that allowed Portsmouth to become a place where, in the 21st century words of Japanese Ambassador Ryozo Kato, ‘Diplomats love Portsmouth, because here, diplomacy actually works.’”
In 2024, the Portsmouth Peace Treaty Forum enhanced the “Diplomats in Portsmouth” exhibit in the John Paul Jones House Museum to showcase the prominent diplomats featured in Forum events. The museum opens for the season on Thursday, May 23, 2024. Regular hours are Thursday-Monday, 11 am to 5 pm (last admission at 4:30 pm) and by appointment on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The Portsmouth Peace Treaty Forum was founded in 1994 to explore, through Japanese, Russian and American perspectives, the history of the Treaty of Portsmouth and its relevance to current issues involving the Northern Pacific region and provides a platform for examining US international diplomacy in the "spirit of the Portsmouth Peace Treaty.
Since then, the Forum has hosted senior diplomats including Ambassadors Dennis Ross and Samantha Power, Assistant Secretary of Defense Joseph S. Nye, Jr. and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. In February, the Forum welcomed Russian specialist and former National Security Advisor Fiona Hill. Hill first participated in the Portsmouth Peace Treaty Forum in 1995 when she joined Harvard Belfer Center Director Graham Allison for a panel with Russian and Japanese diplomats to discuss their study, Beyond Cold War to Trilateral Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific Region. Hill and Allison returned to the Forum in 2016 to “Reconsider the Trilateral Cooperation Study.”
“The exhibit features the Forum diplomats’ books and posters from the events,” said Charles B. Doleac, Forum chairman and senior partner at Boynton, Waldron, Doleac, Woodman & Scott PA Portsmouth. “The display underscores the ongoing research by the Forum to supplement the ‘Portsmouth Peace Treaty: An Uncommon Commitment to Peace’ exhibit, created in 2005 to present original research detailing the role of citizen diplomacy during the 1905 peace conference seeking an end to the Russo-Japanese War. Visitors will also learn about the 1713 Treaty of Portsmouth which sought to settle disputes between English settlers and the First Nations of the Seacoast who were being displaced by the colonists.”