The Mount Joy Area Historical Society will host Steven Nolt as guest speaker at its monthly meeting to be held at 7 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 20, at the Cemetery Road Schoolhouse, 120 Fairview St., Mount Joy.

Elizabethtown College Anabaptist scholar Steven Nolt will discuss "Plain Dress in the Docket" with a focus on Lillian Risser, the Pennsylvania Garb Law and the free exercise of Anabaptist religion. A close look at a 1908 local court case involving constitutional questions of religious liberty will be a part of the presentation and the ramifications will be examined.

Nolt is an American scholar who serves as senior scholar and professor of history and Anabaptist studies at the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College. He received his Ph.D. in history from the University of Notre Dame and holds a graduate theology degree from Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary.

Nolt's Amish-related research has taken him to dozens of settlements across the United States and to Ontario, and he has focused on community formation and history, economic and social change and the role of technology in Amish life.

Refreshments will follow the program. The meeting is free and open to the public. The society building is open every Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. Visitors may stop by to do research and see the many displays of Mount Joy history. For more information, visit http://www.mountjoyhistory.com.