Art of elegant diplomacy and historical mementos

A statue of Thomas Jefferson set in a niche is seen in the Thomas Jefferson state reception room of the state department in Washington DC. (Photo: AFP)

The elevator brings visitors up out of the dull, beige maze of the US state department’s bureaucratic warren and back in time to a hall lined with period décor recalling the era of the American Revolution.

The 18th century backdrop is artificial — plaster and resin overlaying the modern office structure — but the diplomatic reception rooms house a unique collection of 5,000 historic artefacts.

When the state rooms were first opened in 1961, the institutional office furniture made them look, in the words of their late former curator Clement E. Conger, “like a 1950s motel.”

“It was a disaster by any standards for elegant entertaining and international diplomacy,” Mr Conger wrote, describing how he undertook to transform the space into a tribute to American craftsmanship and cultural heritage.

Mr Conger’s team brought together a collection of objects and furnishings dating from early American history, from 1740 under the British Empire, through the 1776 Revolution to 1830.

Some belonged to supporters of the fledgling republic, including some to the Founding Fathers of the United States, others to loyalists to the Crown. Some have diplomatic significance, others are simply a tribute to the skilled artisans of the era. The visitors can find the desk on which was signed the 1783 Treaty of Paris that brought to an end the Revolutionary War.