Tag: Dalia Cidzikaitė

A Visit by the Lithuanian Language Students

In January, the Academy of Education of Vytautas Magnus University (VMU) organized the Lithuanian Language and Culture winter course. Students from more than fifteen countries came to Vilnius to learn the language and get acquainted with Lithuanian culture and history.

The participants of the discussion

On January 14, students visited the National Library of Lithuania. They listened to the lecture on Lithuanian diaspora and its most prominent representatives in science, politics, economy, culture, and art given by Dr. Dalia Cidzikaitė, chief researcher of the Lithuanian Documentary Heritage Department of the National Library of Lithuania. Afterwards, the students were given a tour of the library, followed by a discussion about the image of Lithuania created by foreigners studying Lithuanian language.

Lithuania’s Nature and the Particular Colour of Green Invite to Come Back

A Lithuanian-Australian writer Kristina Dryža is better known in the world of business and management as one of the most influential futurists, trend forecasters, and business consultants, who worked with companies such as Virgin Group, Microsoft, and British Sky Broadcasting. Kristina says that many still do not know that she is also the author of the novel Grace and the Wind released in 2014. I asked Kristina a few questions about writer’s craft, her first book, and future plans.

– How did you become a writer?

I always loved to write as a teenager, mainly in my journal, kept from my parents’ prying eyes. I didn’t really enjoy writing assignments at school or essays at university. I didn’t like writing to perform, to prove, to justify – for results. I had more fun crafting messages in Christmas and birthday cards for my friends, and sharing my overseas travel experiences in postcard form, when writing postcards was de rigueur in the pre-internet era.

Continue reading “Lithuania’s Nature and the Particular Colour of Green Invite to Come Back”

The Order for Merits to Lithuania

Dalia Cidzikaitė at her work desk at the National
Library of LIthuania

On July 6, 2018 Dr. Dalia Cidzikaitė, senior researcher of the Lithuanian Studies Unit of Documentary Heritage Research Department at the National Library of Lithuania, was awarded the Order for Merits to Lithuania. The award is presented by the President of Lithuania. Dalia is a former editor-in-chief of the American-Lithuanian newspaper “Draugas,” since 2014, she is the representative of the Lithuanian American Community, Inc. in Lithuania.

IFLA Satellite Meeting in Vilnius

National Library of Lithuania. Photo by Leonas Garbačauskas.

On 16-17 August, 2017, National Library of Lithuania will host the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) Satellite Meeting. The participants will share their ideas on the challenge of multiple identities – multiethnicity in genealogy, local history and regional memory, as well as challenges and opportunities for libraries and other memory institutions. The presenters will discuss such topics as saving and promoting historical and cultural memories, supporting contacts and understanding between different local and regional communities and the role of libraries, museums and archives in participatory projects based on multi-ethnic and multi-generational collaboration.

Two representatives from Lithuanian Studies Department of National Library of Lithuania will present their papers. Senior researcher Dr. Dalia Cidzikaitė will talk about oral history method as a very effective tool in researching local history and contributing to regional memory. Director of Documentary Heritage Research Department, Jolanta Budriūnienė, will discuss the role that documentary heritage of Lithuanian diaspora stored at the National Library of Lithuania plays.

A Century of Lithuanians in Springfield, Illinois: A Chronicle of One Lithuanian Community in the US

Dalia Cidzikaitė

The vast majority of current Lithuanians living in Springfield, IL (USA) come from Lithuanian miners who arrived to America from Lithuania in the early 20th century. In 1914, the Lithuanian community of Springfield consisted of several thousand Lithuanians. The records of Lithuanian St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Springfield show that year, over 500 Lithuanian families belonged to the church, and between 1909 and 1919, 1,063 Lithuanian babies were baptised there. However, these figures do not indicate the actual number of Lithuanians, because quite a number of them were socialists and did not belong to the church or visited other Catholic churches in the city, such as St. Aloysius, St. Peter and Paul and St. Joseph.

Today, when one comes across such names as Sitki, Nevitt, Yoggerst, Ulak or Chesnut, he or she can hardly tell that these people could be of Lithuanian descent. The reality is that the fourth generation of Lithuanians in Springfield does not speak Lithuanian and does not follow Lithuanian customs. Moreover, they are often unaware that their ancestors came from Lithuania.

It is believed that today 20 000 or so of the first wave of Lithuanian immigrants’ descendants live in Sangamon County of 200 000. Therefore, the book, A Century of Lithuanians in Springfield, Illinois by Sandy Baksys that came out in 2015 is particularly valuable for its genealogical and ethnographic information.

The stories in the book are accompanied by photos which the author obtained from Lithuanian families or individuals depicted in the book. According to the author, the photos appeared because she did not want the book to be just the family genealogical tree. In her opinion, the photos provide an extra glance at Lithuanian life, customs and history of that time.

Web documentary on Current Issues of Migration

In fall of 2016, senior researcher of Lithuanian Studies Department at the National Library of Lithuania, Dr. Dalia Cidzikaitė, took part in a web documentary on contemporary migration “La Crise Migratoire et Nous” (in French and Lithuanian) created by French Institute in Lithuania.

Sixteen participants, from various walks of life, such as historians, a writer, a journalist, a lawyer, a philosopher, and others, shared their ideas about the history of migration, past and current events and lessons we should learn and remember in the future. The conversations which were filmed in France, Lithuania and Canada offer a broad view on current migration crisis in the world.

Please visit website

http://www.institutfrancais-lituanie.info/migration/#Sommaire_FR (in French) and/or http://www.institutfrancais-lituanie.info/Migracija/#Sommaire_LT (in Lithuanian) to listen to the participants talk about migration and its challenges.