Most New Yorkers know that Fraunces Tavern is the site of General George Washington’s famous farewell to his officers at the end of the American Revolution, but most don't realize it was also home to the nation’s first executive governmental building that housed three offices of the Confederation Congress. It housed the Department of Foreign Affairs, Department of War and offices of the Board of Treasury from 1785 to 1788.
To recreate what that was like, Fraunces Tavern has a new exhibit (open as of June 22) that recreates the Department of Foreign Affairs' office based on a cashbook that detailed the purchases for the department. The exhibit features about 60 objects, most of which are authentic to the period and many of which have never before been on public display, including tables, chairs, desks, maps, newspapers and other items. Its visitors will learn about the diplomatic, military and financial challenges that all three departments faced after the Revolutionary War and how those challenges affected the formation of the U.S. Constitution.
"We are in the unique position of having access to a rare, surviving cashbook from the Department of Foreign Affairs," says Craig Hamilton Weaver, co-chairman of the Museum and Art Committee at Fraunces Tavern Museum. "We diligently researched each object in the cashbook and acquired authentic items to create an accurate setting that allows the visitor to step back into history. This is indeed a magnificent gift to the nation."
Specifically, visitors will see a circa 1700s map engraved by J. Prockter highlighting Spanish-controlled West Florida; a rare copy of the French-language newspaper Courier de L’Europe published in London on September 29, 1786, reporting on America’s diplomatic activities with Prussia and Spain; and an array of directional and mapping compasses will help to illustrate the department’s first two pressing matters—The Barbary Pirate Crisis, which led to the 1787 diplomatic treaty with Morocco to end pirate seizures of American vessels in the Mediterranean Sea, and negotiations with Spain regarding control of the Mississippi River.
“We want visitors to have an immersive experience,” said Scott Dwyer, director of Fraunces Tavern Museum. “The exhibition room was designed and will be arranged to give the sense that John Jay, his under secretary, diplomats, translators, clerks and messengers might enter and resume work at any moment.”
Fraunces Tavern is offering $1 admission on opening day, June 22.