The Millersville Area Historical Society (MAHS) invites the public to a presentation, "The Forgotten History of Quakers in Lancaster County," when it meets at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 9, at Millersville's Municipal Center, 100 Municipal Drive. Doors will open at 8:30 a.m. and lock at 9:15 a.m.

The speaker will be Ernest Schreiber, who recently completed a 60-page monograph on the history of Quakers in Lancaster County. Schreiber will recount this history from the first arrival of missionaries in 1658 to the construction of the modern-day Friends Meeting house in 1954. He will discuss the Quakers' involvement in the Revolutionary War, the slave trade, the abolition movement and Civil War, Prohibition, turn-of-the-century county government, and World Wars I and II. Questions to be answered include "How much did William Penn pay for Lancaster County?" and "For whom was John Wright spying at his Columbia ferry?" as well as "Why was Lancaster's first skyscraper named after a Quaker?" A question-and-answer session will close the meeting.

A reporter for the Lancaster New Era for 27 years and its editor for 10 years, Schreiber then led the consolidated LNP. Now retired, he is co-founder of Respect Farmland, a media adviser to the Schreiber Center for Pediatric Development and the Thaddeus Stevens & Lydia Hamilton Smith Center for History and Democracy, and a member of the Lancaster Meeting, Religious Society of Friends since 1980. The Millersville University and University of Pennsylvania graduate grew up in Manheim Township and now lives in Lancaster Township.

Although admission is free, donations will be accepted. For more details, contact Phil Gerber at 717-872-8837 before noon or at pge8507@aol.com.