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The branch of the Lithuanian National Museum of Art which has been operated as the Vytautas Kasiulis Art Museum has been transformed into the Lithuanian Diaspora Art Museum. In order to form a new identity of the museum and to acquaint visitors with the contribution of Lithuanian artists who have lived and created abroad, an extensive program has been prepared.

Ann Tündern-Smith has started a blog to focus on the life stories of the Baltic passengers of Australia’s First Transport.

The Lithuanian National Broadcaster, the Lithuanian National Radio and Television, has created a series of documentaries “Viltis abipus Atlanto” (Hope on Both Sides of the Atlantic) which narrate stories of famous American-Lithuanians and Lithuanian cultural phenomena in the US. Three films are dedicated to the first wave of economic emigrants from Lithuania and its three descendants, doctor Aldona Šliūpaitė, collector and journalist Aleksandras Mykolas Račkus, and Stanley Balzekas Jr., the founder of the Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture in Chicago. Other series present the second wave of political refugees, American-Lithuanian poet Kazys Bradūnas and the American-Lithuanian activist Juozas Polikaitis. The other two documentaries are dedicated to the oldest and longest-running Lithuanian newspaper Draugas and the Lithuanian neighborhood in Chicago, Marquette Park. All series were directed by Justinas Lingys; screenwriters: Audronė Kosciuškienė and Aušra Kalinauskienė. The series can be viewed online here in Lithuanian only.

Baltic University was founded in Hamburg, Germany, on March 14, 1946. Later on, it moved to Pinneberg and functioned there until October 1949. Pranas Jurkus was a student at the Baltic University. He never forgot his first Alma Mater. Throughout his life, Jurkus was collecting material about the University professors and students and was instrumental in arranging the commemorations of the University anniversaries. In March of 2021, he donated the Baltic University archive to the Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture in Chicago, USA, where it will be available to the researchers. In the video, Pranas Jurkus tells the story of Baltic University and his life-long attachment to it in Lithuanian.

These unprecedented times continue. Some of us can occasionally go to work in the archives, museum or office, but most of us are still forced to find new solutions for how to get everything done in our home offices or online. New times call for new coping strategies in both our personal and work lives.

In 1964, Dr. Kostas Jurgėla, wrote a history of Lithuanian immigration to America, “Lietuviai Amerikoje Prieš Masinę Imigraciją ir Tautinį Atgimimą ”. Although written from an American perspective, it included an interesting story of Grand Duchy Lithuanian soldiers who fought for the British in the War of 1812 (the war in North America between Britain and the United States, 1812-1814) recruited from prison ships after they had fought for the French in the Napoleonic War and had been captured.

Birutė Galdikas, the Canadian-Lithuanian scientist, came to the attention of National Geographic as one of the twenty women pioneers, who had been almost forgotten today. In the article “These 20 women were trailblazing explorers—why did history forget them?” celebrating March as Women’s History Month, National Geographic introduces Birutė Galdikas (born 1946), one of the female scientists dubbed Trimates, who has researched orangutans since the 1970s.

Spring edition of the Baltic Heritage Network quarterly newsletter is already available. In these pages you will find information about our past and future events, new publications, and what is happening across the globe within the diaspora research and archive communities. 

The Museum of Estonians Abroad (VEMU) in Toronto together with the Estonian Writer’s Union and Estonian Literature Center announce a competition to find new translators of fiction from Estonian into English.

As of the beginning of this year, Estonian Public Broadcasting’s most popular radio station Vikerraadio is hosting a weekly show “Hajala ringvaade” dedicated to the activities of Estonians abroad. The host is BaltHerNet long time board member and historian Maarja Merivoo-Parro and she welcomes hints for topics. She can be reached at hajala@err.ee