The Damušis Archives’ New Home

The signing ceremony. From the left: the ambassador Gintė Damušytė and the director general of the National Library of Lithuania, Prof. Renaldas Gudauskas.

On July 1, 2019 Gintė Damušytė, the Ambassador of the Republic of Lithuania to the Kingdom of Denmark and the Republic of Iceland, handed over to the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania the archives of her mother, Jadvyga Damušienė, active émigré figure, educator, and a long-time patron of the organization “Ateitininkai “ and the Lithuanian Camp Dainava (Manchester, MI). The ambassador also handed over part of her father Prof. Adolfas Damušis’s, also the émigré activist and inventor, archive.

The Damušis’ archive consisting of more than fifty boxes and containing valuable documents and photographs will be housed at the library’s Rare Books and Manuscripts Unit.

Lithuania’s Image in Western Media

On 4 November, the National Library of Lithuania hosted a discussion about Lithuania in the pages of Western media in 1990s and today; Vilnius Santara-Sviesa Club and Lituanica Department organized it.

From the left to right: Vykintas Pugačiauskas, dr. Dovilė Budrytė, Valdonė Budreckaitė, Gintė Damušis
From the left to right: Vykintas Pugačiauskas, dr. Dovilė Budrytė, Valdonė Budreckaitė, Gintė Damušis

Valdonė Budreckaitė, senior researcher at Lituanica Department, began with a virtual exhibition No, my friends, we won‘t go slow,” dedicated to the time in history when Lithuania was fighting for its independence and its depiction in Western press. The exhibition was prepared by the Lituanica Department in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania. Gintė Damušis, a Lithuanian diplomat, who in 1979-1991 led the Lithuanian Information Centre with its offices in New York and Washington, D.C., shared memories about the dissemination of information and an important role played by the LIC in promoting Lithuania’s independence in the US and other Western countries. Vykintas Pugačiauskas, foreign news editor at the Lithuanian National Radio and Television, discussed Lithuania’s image in contemporary media. Georgia Gwinnett College professor, Dr. Dovilė Budrytė, who also currently teaches at the Institute of International Relations and Political Science at Vilnius University, moderated the event.