At the end of 2015, Vilnius Academy of Arts Publishing House published a monograph Lithuanian Music Culture in the United States, 1870-1990 by prof. Danutė Petrauskaitė. The book written in Lithuanian is impressive for its encyclopedic scope and rich content. “There were times, when I felt like I was drowning in this ocean of material”, admits the author of the book, which covers 120 years of American-Lithuanian music life. Prof. Petrauskaitė not only researched many different written sources, e.g. American-Lithuanian press, abundantly quoted in the monograph, but also visited museums, including Ellis Island.
The book consists of three main sections. The first chapter is an overview of the causes and consequences of emigration. The second chapter analyzes the Lithuanian music culture at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. And finally, the third chapter is dedicated to the American-Lithuanian music culture in the second half of the 20th century. The monograph also contains few annexes, which provide very detailed information about Lithuanian parishes, choirs, and orchestras in the US.