Discovering American Art: Silver in the Golden Age of Annapolis

This year the annual Discovering American Art lecture series focuses on silver and the artisans who produced elegant but useful pieces in early Annapolis.

Annapolis was a thriving colony in the mid-18th century. Though the American colonists grew to resent the British, they desired the amenities of the British lifestyle. The designs of decorative pieces, furniture, ceramics, and silver that flourished during the “Golden Age” of Annapolis (1760s-1770s), were modelled on examples of earlier periods. Annapolis could claim 28 silversmiths who were accounted for in the years between 1720 and 1850, but the evidence of their work is rare. The work of only 14 silversmiths survives today.

Two scholars of early Maryland life and artistry will speak; their lectures expand our understanding and appreciation for the exhibition Silver in the Golden Age of Annapolis currently on view at Hammond-Harwood House. The exhibition highlights over 80 silver objects, as well as portraits, manuscripts, shop drawings, and manuscripts of 14 silversmiths: James, Sr. and John Chalmers, William and Charles Faris, Cesar Ghiselin, Jeremiah Hughes, John Inch, Peter Kirkwood, William McParlin, Samuel Soumaien, Thomas Sparrow, Charles Tinges, Philip Syng, and William Whetcroft. This is the first time Annapolis silversmith have been exhibited in Annapolis. Lending institutions include the Baltimore Museum of Art, Carlyle House, Historic Annapolis, Inc., Maryland State Archives, Maryland Center for History and Culture, Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library and many private collectors.

An exhibition catalogue is available for purchase.

SPEAKERS

Mark Beatson Letzer -Exhibition Guest Curator
Silversmiths of Annapolis’ Golden Age

In this lecture, Mark Letzer will showcase the surviving silver from the workshops of Annapolis silversmiths in the18th century. In addition to describing the artistry of the few surviving objects, he will illuminate the lives of these craftsmen not only as silversmiths but as members of a larger community. Letzer will share the background and histories of these fascinating men. Letzer, who as published and lectured widely, is the former President and CEO of the Maryland Center for History and Culture, formerly the Maryland Historical Society. He co-edited The Diary of William Faris: The Daily Life of an Annapolis Silversmith in 2003 with Jean B. Russo.

He authored the chapter “From Slave to “Self-Taught Genius” in the catalog Joshua Johnson: Portraitist of Early American Baltimore published by the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts in Hagerstown, and a chapter on silver in The Material World of Eyre Hall for the Maryland Center for History and Culture in association with D. Giles Limited. In 2006 he curated the exhibition A Gardener’s Tale: The Eighteenth -century World of Annapolis Silversmith William Faris at the Maryland Historical Society. Letzer is also Executive Producer of the documentary Liberty of Conscience: The Founding of Maryland released in 2025.

Marcia Miller
Crafting the Golden Age: The Architectural World of Annapolis Artisans

Focusing on the rise of Annapolis in the years just prior to the Revolution, often called the Golden Age. Marcia Miller’s lecture will outline with the city’s changing urban landscape. This was a time of vast economic growth and opportunity encompassing all levels of society. The influx of artisans such as silversmiths and the dramatic rise of new construction created distinct areas of commercial, speculative, and private building.

Marcia Miller is chief of the field research office of the Maryland Historical Trust, where she oversees the documentation of Maryland’s historic and cultural resources. She has undertaken numerous field surveys and architectural investigations, serving as the state’s lead architectural historian for the investigation and restoration of landmark buildings like the 18th -century Maryland State House. Marcia is co-editor of Architecture in Annapolis. Much of her research has focused on the complex interplay of designers, craftsmen, and clients in early Maryland,
especially in Annapolis, and how their dwellings fit into a larger trans-Atlantic narrative.

1:30 p.m.        Marcia Miller – Crafting the Golden Age: The Architectural World of Annapolis Artisans
2:45 p.m.        Mark Letzer – Silversmiths of Annapolis’ Golden Age
4 – 5:30 p.m.  Reception and Exhibition Gallery Open