Our Heritage - Our Future

The Center's Operations

The Center is not just an archive, but actively promotes scholarship. It works with Lithuania's academic institutions and institutions in the US and globally. The Center hosts researchers and students from Lithuania and non-Lithuanian scholars from around the world. Besides the publications of these visitors, the Center itself has published over fifty books, digitizes audio and video recordings, and hosts lectures, exhibits and conferences. The Center's spauda.org website with digitized émigré Lithuanian periodicals has been cited in Lithuania as a leading source of research content.

Expansion in 2018

The Lithuanian Research Center's sole home for many years was the Lithuanian Youth Center in Chicago. As the Center's activities and collections expanded, it outgrew those facilities and began looking for a second home. The Center secured a mortgage from the Lithuanian Foundation to purchase a 6,000 square foot brick structure at 15533 129th Street in Lemont, Illinois on August 13, 2018.

This facility houses the Center's main archives, the photo archive, musicology archive and periodicals collection. It also hosts conferences and presentations for specialists and the general public. The remaining specialized archives, library and museum - also about 6,000 square feet - are in Chicago. The Center also administers the Archive of the Lithuanian Scouts Association. Thus, the Center operates three facilities, but it has become apparent that another expansion is necessary.

Needed Addition to the Lemont Facility

The Lithuanian Research Center continues to grow. Some Lithuanian-American leaders and organizations will bequeath 20, 40, even 100 boxes of archival materials. The number of students, scholars and volunteers working at the Center continues to increase. The Center is facing yet another shortage of space as its operations have expanded and is actively engaged in building an addition to the Lemont facility.

The Village of Lemont has tentatively approved the construction of a two-story 6,000 square foot addition on the north and west sides of the building. Thomas Architects of Des Plaines, Illinois has been retained for the project. The addition will house collections, a workspace for researchers and a larger space for presentations to the community.

In lieu of seeking another loan, the Center is conducting a campaign for the approximately $1,000,000 that will be needed for architectural work, permits, planning and construction.

While the Center seeks broad community support for this endeavor, every campaign depends upon benefactors providing larger amounts of financial support. We have already secured several larger gifts, including one for $100,000.

The Collections

• 100,000 volume library
• Over 2,000 boxes of individual, organizational and diplomatic archives
• 300,000 pages of Displaced Persons (DP) archives from over 130 camps
• 2,500+ periodical titles dating back to Keleivis, published in 1850
• Musicology Archive, established in 1920
• Dr. Tomas Remeikis Political Science Library & Archive
• Dr. Milda Budrys Medical Museum & Archive
• Budrys Photo Library
• Lithuanian Museum
• Lithuanian Art Archive with over 250 works of art and hundreds of files and programs
• Ramovėnai Wars of Freedom Museum
• Dr. Audrius Plioplys Art Archive
• Jonas Dainauskas History Library & Archive