The Millersville Area Historical Society will host a presentation titled "Lancaster Prisoners of War: Transforming British Rebels Into American Revolutionaries" when it meets at 9 a.m. on Saturday, May 9, in the Millersville Borough Administration and Police Building, 100 Municipal Drive. Doors will open at 8:30 a.m. and lock at 9:15 a.m. The speaker will be Robyn Lily Davis, an associate professor of history at Millersville University (MU) with expertise in Colonial and Revolutionary War-era America.

Lancaster, a thriving inland city and a major detention center for British and Hessian prisoners of war, largely experienced the American Revolution not through battles but instead through the daily realities of conflict on its streets. Davis' talk will reveal the close and often tense encounters with enemy captives that reshaped local loyalties and sharpened divisions between Britons and Americans. A question-and-answer time will close the meeting.

Davis has taught at MU since 2012 and currently is chair of the History and Philosophy Department. She has been nominated to serve for the next three years as a member of the American Historical Association's Beveridge Family Prize in American History, for which she will have to read 150 to 160 books each summer. The New York City native earned a Bachelor of Arts in French language and literature from Columbia University before family circumstances took her to Oklahoma, where she developed a liking for history and earned a Master of Arts and a Ph.D. from the University of Oklahoma.

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