As the year 2021 ended, the staff of the Department of Documentary Heritage at the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania congratulated the head of the department, Jolanta Budriūnienė, on successfully defending her PhD thesis at Vytautas Magnus University and becoming the doctor of humanities.
For many years, Budriūnienė has been interested in the Lithuanian diaspora press and has actively contributed to the National Library of Lithuania diaspora collection. The topic of Budriūnienė’s thesis, “Communication Strategies in the English-Language Lithuanian American Press (1950-1990)” has been also related to the Lithuanian diaspora. In her dissertation, Budriūnienė researches the English-language Lithuanian American cultural press of 1950-1990, published by Manyland Books, Lithuanian Library Press, Inc. and the Lithuanian quarterly journal Lituanus, which main mission at that time was to represent the country and Lithuanian American community, to draw world’s attention to the occupation of Lithuania, and to show the potential of the country and its people, as well as the aspiration to restore Lithuania’s independence. According to Budriūnienė, this type of press sought to define the individual and communal image of a Lithuanian, to represent the uniqueness of the then occupied Lithuania, at the same time looking for points of contact with the representatives of other ethnic communities. The information in English provided an opportunity for the Lithuanian community to perform on an equal footing in the social field of multiethnic America, to create cultural and symbolic value, and be noticed, appreciated and compared to other ethnic communities.