By Silvija Stankevičiūtė
This May, the community of Lithuanian diaspora researchers gathered at the National Library of Lithuania for the eleventh time. The event featured a wide variety of topics.
The first half of the seminar focused on a recently launched eKultura.lt platform, the Lithuania’s largest digital cultural space. Dr. Giedrė Milerytė-Japertienė, Deputy Director General for Science and Outreach at the National Museum of Lithuania and a specialist at the Dizi company, presented the collections of audio and video recordings related to the Lithuanian diaspora and showed a few of curated content narratives, which will be gradually appear on the new platform.
The main geographical areas covered by the collected recordings include the United States, Argentina, the United Kingdom, and Poland. Radio programs created and produced by Lithuanian-American Giedrė Kumpikas for Lithuanian radio in New York, brought to Lithuania, transcribed, and cataloged, as well as recordings from the Lithuanian Archives Project, supplemented with metadata, will become part of the eKultura. The archival material from film director Arvydas Reneckis, who emigrated from Lithuania to the U.S. nearly four decades ago, will also be available soon.
Dr. Asta Petraitytė-Briedienė, a researcher at the Lithuanian Emigration Institute at Vytautas Magnus University, spoke about the concept, implementation process, and future prospects of the curated content “Snow in Rome,” available on the eKultura. The rare snowfall in Rome became an unexpected thread leading Dr. Petraitytė-Briedienė to the history of Lithuanian diplomats, the Lozoraitis family. According to the researcher, sometimes it is precisely such a fleeting event that provides an opportunity to revisit the archives and discover how personal family memory intertwines with the broader narrative of twentieth-century history. Surviving family photographs and film footage bear witness to this rare phenomenon.
As part of the National Library’s of Lithuania ongoing program, A Year with Denmark, dedicated to commemorating Lithuanian-Danish friendship, cultural exchange, and diplomatic relations, attention was also given to the theme of Denmark. Reda Mieldažytė, chair of the Lithuanian community in Denmark, gave a presentation titled “The Lithuanian Community in Denmark: Through the Crosswinds of Time, History, and Generations.” Another presenter, Dixie Simonsen, who joined the event on-line from Denmark, presented a study on the lives of Lithuanian lawyer and historian Martynas Brakas (1907–2000) and his Danish wife Gunhild Høgh Bryø (1909–2005) as they moved between Denmark and Lithuania.
Deimantė Žukauskienė, chief researcher at the Rare Books and Manuscripts Unit of the National Library of Lithuania discussed the archive of Vincas Bartusevičius (1939–2000), an active figure in the German-Lithuanian community, which reached the library last year in seventy-seven boxes and a suitcase. The archive consists of approximately 2,000 publications in Lithuanian, German, English, Russian, Polish, and Danish, periodicals, and manuscripts: correspondence from the board of the Lithuanian community in Germany, documents from the Lithuanian February 16 Gymnasium, as well as documents on Lithuanian organizations active in Germany and other materials.
Dr. Žydronė Kolevinskienė, a researcher at Vytautas Magnus University and the Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore, talked about the activities of female members in the Lithuanian Riflemen’s Union in exile. According to the researcher, several main areas can be identified: fostering national identity, educating youth and community, being active in social work, and supporting the cause of Lithuanian freedom.
Dr. Regina Laukaitytė, a researcher at the Lithuanian Institute of History, presented a paper based on her extensive research titled “Journeys to the West from the Lithuanian SSR: Tourist Routes and Long-Term Visas.”
Musical themes received significant attention at this year’s seminar as well. Dr. Aušra Strazdaitė-Ziberkienė, a curator at the Kaunas City Museum Mikas and Kipras Petrauskas House, introduced the history of Lithuanian émigré music as told through the exhibits. Audio recordings and exhibits (photographs, records, sheet music, and collections of musical works) were presented, revealing the music activities of Lithuanians in Europe, Argentina, Brazil, the U.S., and China.
The seminar discussed recently published or still forthcoming publications. Dr. Kristina Jakaitė-Bulbukienė presented a book written with her co-authors, based on research about the Lithuanian language abroad. In the book, the authors discuss language learning and the transmission of the Lithuanian language to children, changes in the Lithuanian language, fostering bilingualism in Lithuanian or mixed families, and Lithuanian-language education.
Dr. Darius Kučinskas, Chief Bibliographer of the Music and Visual Arts Unit at the National Library of Lithuania, shared the research behind his forthcoming monograph Lithuanian Pianola Rolls for the Player Piano, and introduced lesser-known yet significant figures in music history, about whom music history textbooks and encyclopedias often provide scant information: Jonas Žemaitis, Ksaveras Strumskis, Vincas Nickus, and others. The work presents a comprehensive study of Lithuanian pianola rolls in both print and digital formats and provides accurate information about the origins of this unique phenomenon of Lithuanian musical heritage, the rolls themselves, and the music recorded on them.
At the end of the seminar, the participants had a rare opportunity to become acquainted with music for the player piano, recently acquired by the National Library of Lithuania.
The day culminated in a screening of Ramunė Rakauskaitė’s documentary Toks kaimas Amerikoje [Such a Village in America, 2025], nominated for the Silver Crane Award in the feature-length documentary category, about the Lithuanian-American camp Dainava in Michigan, followed by a conversation with the film director.