Highlights – First Quarter 2025
The Lithuanian Research Center (LRC) declared 2024-2025 the Year of the Displaced Person, commemorating the great migration of Lithuanians westward across Europe eighty years ago. Nine events were planned, symbolizing the nine months that it took many people to reach safety in the American or British zones of western Germany. Seven successful events have taken place thus far with tremendous attendance by the general public, diplomats, journalists, community leaders. This series has also resonated in Lithuania. Gaile Vitas, LRC Volunteer Coordinator, conceived of, and executes, the series.
Over the last six months, LRC has received 100 separate generous archival donations, with several from Jūratė Jančys, who has given LRC the music archives of her relatives Vytautas and Bronius Jančys, along with a collection of 19 dolls with national costumes made by her mother Ksavera Jančienė. The second largest donation was received from Kazys Motekaitis - the archives of his musical relatives Manigirdas and Izabelė Motekaitis - sheet music, music recordings, books, other documents, and equipment for playing music. The third largest donation came from Aldona Škirpienė - the archives of her father-in-law Colonel Kazys Škirpa.
Among the researchers who have recently visited are Dr. Loreta Mačianskaitė from Vilnius University working on material about writer Antanas Škėma; documentarian Audronė Bielinienė researching various organizational archives; Prof. Dr. Vytis Čiubrinskas from Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas researching and speaking about the first Lithuanians in Texas; and Dr. Jurga Bardauskienė from the Klaipėda Ieva Simonaitytė Library.
There is an increasing number of researchers who visit and conduct their work virtually from their locales near and far. A few examples are Vytautas V. Landsbergis searching for Zita Kelmickaitė's original interview for a film he is making about her, a group of Danish journalists, among them the Lithuanian-speaking Dixie Simonsen, on Lithuanian Displaced Persons in postwar Denmark, and Paul Shields of Massachusetts searching for members of the Gudaitis family in our collections from the Würzburg and Schweinfurt DP camps.
LRC Director of Archives Dr. Indrė Antanaitis Jacobs coordinates our research activity. Displaced Persons Remember IV, March 23, 2025 with presentations by Algis Kazlauskas, Daiva Luneckas Bulicz, Ramunė Juozevičiūtė Račkauskienė and Marytė Mažeikaitė Utz.
LRC conducted an excursion for Lithuanian School teachers from across the United States on March 21, 2025. The excursion focused on areas covered in Upton Sinclair’s novel, The Jungle. The teachers also enjoyed Chicago-style deep dish pizza!
LRC participates in the annual Kaziuko mugė – Saint Casimir’s Fair at the Lithuanian World Center in Lemont, Illinois on March 2, 2025. Gaile Vitas and Indrė Antanaitis Jacobs spoke with visitors that day.
LRC Chairman of the Board Dr. Robertas Vitas (left) visited Vilnius in February, 2025. He participated in the International Vilnius Security Summit and had meetings at the Lithuanian Cultural Council and Lithuanian Museums Association. He is pictured with Vaidotas Malinionis of the Lithuanian Colonels Association and Steven Olejasz, who chairs an annual conference at West Point that LRC participates in. Lithuania’s Defense Minister Dovilė Šakalienė is speaking in the photo on the right.
Dr. Vytis Čiubrinskas is an expert in the Lithuanians of Texas dating back to the first arrivals in the 19th Century. He has conducted research at LRC several times and presented on Texas’s Lithuanians on February 2, 2025. Among those in attendance were LRC Archivist Laima Smilgytė and LRC Volunteer Coordinator Gaile Vitas.
Displaced Persons Remember III, February 9, 2025. Dr. Algis Norvilas served as moderator for Jurgis Birutis and Julius Butkus as they shared their DP experiences.
On January 19, 2025, LRC hosted a community screening of the documentary film Displaced by Mary Umans. Mary has researched at LRC and some of her footage comes from our archives. The documentary also attracted attention not just from the public but the leadership of the Lithuanian American Community (LAC). On the left, LRC President & Chief Executive Officer Kristina Lapienytė (middle) speaks with Romas Jelinskas, LAC Vice President for Information. Photo on right: Giedrė Knieža, President of the 2026 LAC Song Festival; Greta Patapovaitė Bryant, LAC Cultural Council President; Regina Butkus, LAC Vice President for Archives; Romas Jelinskas, LAC Vice President for Information; Vitas Daulys, President of the LAC Brighton Park Chicago Branch; and Dr. Robertas Vitas, who also serves on LAC’s Board of Directors and chairs the Public Affairs Commission.
