Yes, they started with a costume ball and Queen Anne impersonator, but Annapolis is serious about its history. Maryland's capital has been marking the 300th anniversary of its 1708 charter since September. Last weekend, nine months into the yearlong celebration, it got around to a scholarly symposium on the subject.
The upshot, from an expert in Colonial legal history brought in from New York:
The city has exaggerated the importance of the charter and the role of Queen Anne, who had "little or nothing" to do with the document, said C. Ashley Ellefson, emeritus professor of history at the State University of New York at Cortland.
Yet there's a tribute to Her Majesty, calling her "the mother of elected, democratic government here in Maryland" on the Annapolis Alive! Web site.
Where'd the city get that idea?
That bit was written by "writer and historian Joseph Meany of Samuel Hutton Associates." He had a hand in several aspects of the charter celebration, including arranging for Ellefson and other symposium speakers to come to town.
Where'd the city find Meany?
I tried to ask Karen Engelke, the city's special events coordinator. I never heard back from her, but it seems she didn't have to look far to find Meany.
Samuel Hutton Associates is based out of a Cornhill Street house listed in state records under her name.
Engelke is listed as a "principal" in the two-person firm on a company profile posted on the Web.
Is it really possible that someone in charge of special events for the city could hire her own firm to do work for those events? The Annapolis Alive! site describes how Meany wrote up some history that was posted on a kiosk in the Clay Street neighborhood. "The kiosk project manager was Karen Engelke," the Web site notes. The site makes no mention of Engelke's connection to his firm.
Engelke and Meany did not respond to phone messages seeking comment. Her city voice mail indicated that she was away but would be checking e-mail. She did not reply to an e-mail message.
City spokesman Ray Weaver said he did not know how much Samuel Hutton Associates had been paid. He referred me to the finance department, which was not able to determine Friday how much money, if any, the firm received.
Weaver said he was unaware of any business relationship between Meany and Engelke. Weaver referred me to Engelke and expressed surprise when I said she was away. He wouldn't necessarily know her whereabouts. Seems she mostly works from home.
