News archive

This summer, the National Library of Lithuania hosted a talk on how to search for Lithuanian data in US archives and genealogical websites presented by Karilė Vaitkutė, head of the Genealogy Department at the Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture in Chicago (USA).

This summer, the National Library of Lithuania once again invited the participants of the Lithuanian Studies Summer Courses organized by Vytautas Magnus University. The Library has been inviting the participants of these courses for several years now, to discuss topics of interest to teachers, to share their experience and concerns, and to listen to lectures presented by the library experts.

Several dozen books on Lithuanian and Judaica subjects were added to the collections of the National Library of Lithuania. All of them were donated by Donatas Januta, a Lithuanian American lawyer, who visited the Library at the end of this summer.

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.

This year, Lithuanian American Nijolė Bražėnaitė-Lukšienė-Paronetto turned hundred years old. On this occasion, the National Library of Lithuania invited Nijolė’s friends and all those interested to an evening to commemorate this anniversary. The event featured a presentation of the book “Apie anuos nepamirštamus laikus: Juozo Lukšos-Daumanto ir Nijolės Bražėnaitės susirašinėjimas” (About Those Unforgettable Times: The Correspondence between Juozas Lukša-Daumantas and Nijolė Bražėnaitė) compiled by Laima Vincė.

On July 15, 2023, on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the flight of the legendary pilots, Steponas Darius and Stasys Girėnas, an interactive exhibition by the National Library of Lithuania was opened at the Čiurlionis Gallery in Chicago (USA).

The summer edition of the Baltic Heritage Network quarterly newsletter is now 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.

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.

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

The Estonian Ministry of Culture has declared 2024 the Year of Cultural Diversity. The thematic year will celebrate how this value enriches our lives. We are calling upon you to join in the celebrations — discover and share, value and create, preserve and enrich the cultural traditions of our communities and the whole nation through everything that unites us: from experiences and myths to creative processes and planning the future. SHARE IDEAS Just as cultural diversity starts with every one of us, the year dedicated to this value starts from our ideas. Come and join the team of the Year of Cultural Diversity: please share your ideas on celebrating Estonia’s cultural diversity next year. Initiatives that have already been implemented or have even become a tradition and initiatives that are still planned or inspired by the next thematic year are welcome. The deadline for open calls is the end of June 2023. Please share your ideas via the form below or by regular mail (Integration Foundation, Rävala pst 5, 10145 Tallinn, keyword “2024”). We will review all ideas in July and give feedback by August at the latest. More information about the thematic year and open call will be provided at the meeting with the Year of Cultural Diversity team, which will be held online on 13 June. To participate, please register by noon of 12 June: meeting in Estonian on 13 June at 15-16, in Russian at 16.30-17.30, and in English at 18.00-19.00. CONTACT US The Integration Foundation coordinates the thematic year. If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact the team of the Year of Cultural Diversity at 2024@integratsioon.ee. We are all part of cultural diversity, and the next year belongs to all of us! How can we celebrate cultural diversity? Share your idea here: https://integratsioon.ee/en/2024