LANCASTER, Pa. – On Thursday, October 9, LancasterHistory will welcome Dr. Natalia Doan, assistant professor of history at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, for a talk on the history of First Lady Harriet Lane's connection with the Japanese embassy and the impact the 1860 delegation of Japanese samurai had on antebellum America.

In May 1860, First Lady Harriet Lane welcomed a delegation of samurai to the White House. These samurai were members of the first official Japanese delegation to the United States. During the embassy’s two month visit to America, crowds of people gathered across the East Coast in the hopes of meeting (or at least glimpsing) the mysterious travelers from across the seas. The Japanese embassy members recorded in their journals their different experiences of this historic encounter, and perhaps no American woman left as much of an impression on the samurai as Harriet Lane during her hosting and entertaining of the Japanese at the White House.

Dr. Natalia Doan is an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville where she teaches the history of modern and early modern Japan. She completed her doctorate in Asian Studies at the University of Oxford and recently co-edited the academic volume Black Transnationalism and Japan (Leiden University Press, 2024) which discloses over a century of cultural and intellectual exchange between Japanese and African American people. Her work on Japanese history has appeared in, among other publications, Reopening the Opening of Japan: Transnational Approaches to Modern Japan and the Wider World (Brill, 2023) and the Historical Journal and the Journal of Social History, in which her work on the 1860 embassy was shortlisted for the Royal Historical Society Alexander Prize.

Dr. Doan's October lecture at LancasterHistory also coincides with the display of a special exhibit on the history of the 1860 Japanese delegation to the United States. Curated by Stephanie Celiberti, Historic Site Administrator at LancasterHistory, "Building Bridges: The First Japanese Embassy to the United States," explores the developing relationship between Japan and the United States through the gifts each party exchanged. It was a historic moment for both nations. Prior to the 1858 Harris Treaty (or Treaty of Amity and Commerce), Japan had long been an isolationist nation, especially under the Tokugawa Shogunate which minimized Western influence. The treaty opened Japanese ports to the United States and exposed Japan to the world. The Treaty was ratified by President James Buchanan.

The lecture, "Samurai at the White House," will take place on Thursday, October 9 with both an in-person and online attendance option. Doors open and a light reception begins at 5pm at the LancasterHistory Museum & Research Center, 230 N. President Avenue in Lancaster. The lecture will begin at 5:30pm. To register for this free program, please visit LancasterHistory's website.

The special exhibit, "Building Bridges: The First Japanese Embassy to the United States," is currently on display at the LancasterHistory Museum & Research Center through December 30, 2025. Admission to the exhibit is included with the purchase of a General Admission ticket or Exhibitions-Only ticket. LancasterHistory Members receive complimentary admission.

About LancasterHistory

LancasterHistory is a community-based, not-for-profit organization established to educate the public on the history of Lancaster County and its place in the history of Pennsylvania and the United States, to advance the missions of regional historical organizations, and to promote the acquisition, preservation, and interpretation of resources representing the history of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania within the broader context of state and national history, including the life and legacy of Congressman Thaddeus Stevens, his house manager, Lydia Hamilton Smith, and America’s 15th President, James Buchanan.