IF YOU GO

What: Becoming a Nation: Americana from the Diplomatic Reception Rooms, U.S. Department of State. When: 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday (until 9 p.m. Wednesday) Where: Cincinnati Art Museum, 953 Eden Park Drive, Mount Adams Tickets: $12, $10 seniors, $8 ages 6-18, free for museum members Information: 721-2787; www.cincinnatiartmuseum.org

If you like history and furniture, don't miss Becoming a Nation: Americana from the Diplomatic Reception Rooms, U.S. Department of State, an exhibition at the Cincinnati Art Museum through April 25.

Many of the nearly 200 historic pieces were owned by famous Americans, including Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Ben Franklin and George Washington. They were made or used in this country from about 1730 to 1840.

The collection was assembled to provide the Department of State - and the country as a whole - with beautiful and suitable surroundings for the benefit of American statesmanship, according to the catalog accompanying the exhibit.

Pieces with regional interest include a card table owned by Henry Clay of Lexington, who served as secretary of state from 1827-1829, and a model painting for printers that artist Archibald Willard of Wellington, Ohio, did of his work "Yankee Doodle," painted for the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876.

The Cincinnati Enquirer