Silversmiths of Annapolis’s Golden Age

In this presentation, Mark Letzer explores the surviving silver from the workshops of Annapolis silversmiths in the 1700s. He not only illustrates the few surviving objects but illuminates the lives of these craftsmen not only as silversmiths but as members of a larger community. From taverns to social gatherings and their workshops, Letzer will share the background and histories of these fascinating men.

Mark Beatson Letzer is the former President and CEO of the Maryland Center for History and Culture, formerly the Maryland Historical Society. He was involved with the organization for twenty-eight years, serving as President for seven. Letzer co-edited The Diary of William Faris: The Daily Life of an Annapolis Silversmith in 2003 with historian Jean B. Russo. In 2006 he curated the exhibition “A Gardener’s Tale: The Eighteenth-century world of Annapolis Silversmith William Faris” at the Maryland Historical Society. In 2021, Letzer authored the chapter on silver in The Material World of Eyre Hall published by the Maryland Center for History and Culture in association with D. Giles Limited.  Letzer also 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, 2021. Letzer has lectured and published widely throughout Maryland and the mid-Atlantic on silver and decorative and fine arts. He is also Executive Producer of the documentary Liberty of Conscience: The Founding of Maryland released in 2025.