Diplomacy at Home: The Domestic Lives of the Founding Families

This exhibition explores the private worlds of America’s founders through furniture, fine art, decorative, and personal objects from their homes—revealing how domestic spaces shaped political life and diplomacy. With special focus on New York figures such as John Jay and Alexander Hamilton among others, Diplomacy at Home: The Domestic Lives of the Founding Families also foregrounds the essential roles of women including Martha Washington and Sarah Jay, who were instrumental to the development of the political and diplomatic culture of the newly formed United States. 

Diplomacy at Home: The Domestic Lives of the Founding Families is organized by the Katonah Museum of Art in collaboration with the Friends of John Jay Homestead and the Richard Hampton Jenrette Foundation. The exhibition is guest curated by the Richard Hampton Jenrette Foundation’s Curator and Director of Collections Grant Quertermous.

PHOTO CREDIT:

Attributed to Thomas Burling (American, 1746-1831). Side Chair, 1790. Mahogany, oak, leather, and brass, (38 x 20 1/8 x 18 in. (96.5 x 51.1 x 45.7 cm). Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello, Bequest of Ethel Patterson Randolph, 1958. Photo: Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello

James Sharples (English 1751-1811). Sarah Jay and Her Children William and Louisa, c. 1789. Pastel on paper, 28 3/4 x 23 1/8 in. (73 x 58.8 cm). New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. John Jay Homestead State Historic Site. Gift of Friends of John Jay Homestead. Photo: Columbia University Libraries Online Exhibitions, accessed March 5, 2026, https://exhibitions.library.columbia.edu/exhibits/show/john_jay/item/12447

Dinner Plate from George Washington’s Society of the Cincinnati Service, Jingdezhen, China, ca. 1785. Porcelain (hard-paste), enamel, and gilt, 11/16 x 9 3/4 x 9 11/16 in. (1.7 x 24.8 x 24.6 cm). Purchase, 1944  [W-1436/B]. Courtesy of The Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association. Photo: Edward Owen