It's a room, a small one at the entrance to the Anne Arundel County Courthouse, with a little plaque at its doorway that says Courthouse Museum.
Save for a smattering of items stored there, it's empty.
It's been that way, with rare exceptions, for the more than five years since the restoration of the historic building on Church Circle in Annapolis.
But this year it is expected to become a window into the ties between the law, the area's history and its social fabric.
With grant money and funds raised privately, the Anne Arundel Bar Foundation, the charitable arm of the Anne Arundel Bar Association, is moving toward putting exhibits there that spotlight the community and legal cases, and using the century-old second floor with its grand balcony to dramatize interesting trials heard in the courthouse.
"So many major issues of the day get played out in courthouses. I do think the issues society is struggling with - gay marriage, abortion, slavery, the right to vote - the court deals with these issues of importance," said Ann M. Fligsten, a former president of the Historic Annapolis Foundation who leads the lawyers committee working on the project. "You've got civil cases, divorces, family law, criminal cases - the evolution of culture and the evolution of a population."
The court has little to contribute other than space. For example, because criminal cases can stay open for decades, documents and evidence from them can't be tampered with. Court paperwork is fairly dull reading, and people come to museums more to see than to read.
"We don't have anything to put in there," said Court Administrator Robert G. Wallace. "We don't have a gallows or something."
The lawyers group, looking at spending as much as $30,000, wants to go beyond the typical judicial portraits that hang on most courthouse walls, said Frances M. Czajka, executive director of the county bar association. The challenge is for the museum room of about 700 square feet to house the sorts of items that will pique the public's interest.
The courthouse sits in the midst of Annapolis's historic district, and while nobody expects it to become a tourist mecca, a museum in it could be a quick stop along the way for visitors to the city, promoters say.
