A pair of 9.5 x 7.5 silver print photographs of the delegates to the Portsmouth Peace Conference, affixed to their original 14 x 11 mounts, by photographer Perry E. Conner of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, signed by a total of twelve of the major participants and attending journalists at the peace conference which concluded the Russo-Japanese War.
The photograph of Japanese Delegation featured is signed by Japanese Minister Resident, Aimaro Sato ("Aimaro Sato") together with Minister for Foreign Affairs and Special Plenipotentiary, Baron Jutaro Komura ("Jutaro Komura"); Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary Kogoro Takahira ("Kogoro Takahira"); Third Secretary of the Japanese Legation to Washington Masanao Hanihara ("M. Hanihara"); Foreign policy and legal advisor to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Henry Ward Denison ("H. W. Denison"); Naval Attache to Japanese Legation at Washington, Commander Isamu Takeshita (signed in Japanese); Tokyo newspaper editor R. Onishi ("R. Onishi"); New York Herald reporter, John Callan O'Laughlin ("John Callan O'Laughlin"); and Boston Herald correspondent, Edmund Noble ("Edmund Noble").
The photograph of the Russian Delegation is signed by Senior Plenipotentiary & President of the Committee of Ministers, Sergius Witte ("Serge Witte"), Ambassador to Washington, Baron Rosen ("Rosen"), and Daily Telegraph correspondent Emile Joseph Dillon (“E. J. Dillon").
Offered with a smaller unsigned mounted silver print titled "Reception Of The Japan-Russia Peace Envoys. By Gov. John Mclane. Rockingham County Court House, Portsmouth, N.H. Aug. 8, 1905,” by Kimball, Concord, NH. The photo is accompanied by a printed key identifying the individuals photographed. In overall very good to fine condition, with toning and staining to the mounts.
Envoys from Russia and Japan came to Portsmouth, New Hampshire at the behest of President Theodore Roosevelt. Talks began on August 9 and continued over twelve sessions through the 30th; the delegates residing at the Hotel Wentworth in New Castle, New Hampshire and holding the negotiations across the Piscataqua River at the naval base at Kittery, Maine. For his efforts in organizing the conference, Theodore Roosevelt was awarded the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize.
