Historical photographs created by David H. Mellinger will be on display at the Bethany Evangelical Congregational Church of Creswell, of which Mellinger and his family were members, on Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 23 and 24, from 1 to 4 p.m. Local photographer Scott Kriner will give a brief talk on Mellinger's work and early photographic processes at 2 p.m. each day. Bethany Evangelical Congregational Church is located at 1165 Letort Road, Conestoga.

Mellinger was a prominent farmer and landowner in Creswell and took up photography as a hobby. He was active as a photographer from approximately 1897 to 1910, and the images he created during this period were primarily of family members, friends and the local community. These glimpses into rural life in Lancaster County at the turn of the century surfaced when his daughter, Luella, sold the family's rambling Victorian-era mansion in Creswell in 1986. Luella was aware that her father had pursued photography as a hobby, but she had never seen the images.

The glass plates were purchased at the sale by Kriner. There were no prints, only the glass plates. Kriner carefully cleaned and evaluated the plates and proceeded to make prints from the original plates in the same manner as Mellinger would have done.

Mellinger used high-quality equipment to practice his craft, but the process of loading and unloading light-sensitive glass plates for each exposure and carrying heavy cameras and lenses that required a large tripod made for a different experience than photographers have today. After taking the photographs, Mellinger would tote the loaded, exposed glass plates home to be unloaded in the dark and processed in three different chemical baths to permanently fix the images. Once dry, the images could be placed in contact with a sheet of light-sensitive photographic paper.

The upcoming display will include both prints created by Kriner from the Mellinger plates along with some of the original glass plates.

There will also be a display sharing the history of Bethany Evangelical Congregational Church from 1834 to the present. The Evangelical Association started in a house on the Hershey Mann Farm, now the Frey Landfill. The group then moved its worship services to what became the Creswell Community Store; a brick church across the street, which has since been torn down; and its current location. Pictures and church artifacts will be on display.

For more information, call 717-684-3931 and leave a message.