July 2023 - BaltHerNet

A Visit to the United States

On July 13-18, 2023, Prof. Dr. Renaldas Gudauskas, Director General of the National Library of Lithuania, visited the United States of America. The main purpose of the visit was to participate in the commemoration of the 90th anniversary of the flight of two Lithuanian American pilots, Steponas Darius and Stasys Girėnas, across the Atlantic.

Read more July 7, 2023

Collection campaign “Stories of War”

Since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia in February 2022, various forms of media have broadcast the events in Ukraine and the quality and state of life of Ukrainian refugees in Estonia. A lesser degree of focus has been put on how the war has affected Estonians and what role Estonians have played overall in the war. Another question that needs to be posed is how this war has affected diaspora Estonians and their respective communities. There’s no doubt that the war in Ukraine has revived personal and familial memories for many Estonians from the era of the Second World War, the fears related to it, and the trauma of leaving their homeland. With the upcoming collection campaign titled “Stories of War” from the Association of Estonian Life Stories and the Estonian Cultural History Archives (Estonian Literary Museum), we wish to collect stories related to the Ukrainian war from individuals from various generations. VEMU/Estonian Museum Canada in Toronto is a partner for the collection campaign.

Read more July 5, 2023

BaltHerNet’s XI Summer School – My Estonian Roots

BaltHerNet’s summer school titled “Diaspora Estonian Cultural Heritage Abroad.XI. My Estonian Roots” took place in Setomaa at Värska from June 26-29th. SinceSetomaa is known for its knowledge of traditions and unique, strong identity, wechose this year’s summer school theme, identity and roots, accordingly. Topics suchas researching family genealogy and names, ways to preserve your family history,mapping of tombstones, and family as well as regional heritage was discussed andexplored. We introduced collections related to the theme from both Estonian anddiaspora archives. Setomaa is also unique and different because it’s a border zone. The shuffling ofborders and life in a border zone has created a lasting impact on the people thatreside there. We invited Estonians living abroad, Estonians that have returnedto their homeland, setos, and identity researchers to participate in discussionsregarding the multi-identities of people living in various cultures. Summer school participants met in Tartu on June 26th and visited Noora, afterwhich the charter bus departed for Setomaa. June 27-28 featured presentations,discussions, and documentary film screenings. NGO BaltHerNet’s annual generalmeeting also took place on June 27. On June 29th, we embarked on a road trip toSetomaa and visited Värska Agricultural Museum, Saatse and Obinitsa. Participantswere taken back to Tartu by nightfall. BaltHerNet summer schools are focused on Estonians living abroad and foremployees of Estonian memory institutions who are involved with collecting,maintaining, researching and distributing information about Estonian culturalheritage. They feature lectures, courses, hands-on learning, discussions anddialogue. Experts from various Estonian memory institutes share their thoughts andknowledge about archives, libraries, museums and other topics.You can read a more comprehensive overview of the summer school in the nextnewsletter. In June 2024, we will meet in Vilnius at the BaltHerNet conference. Butfor now, have a lovely summer, everyone! Piret Noorhani

Monthly Archives: July 2023