Highlights – Third Quarter 2025
On July 2, Lithuanian Foundation Board Chairman Juozas Kapačinkas (second from right) and LF President Viktoras Kaufmanas (right) visited the Chicago Lithuanian Center, where they met with CLC President Antanas Rašymas (second from left) and CLC Board Member and Lithuanian Research Center (LRC) Chairman of the Board Dr. Robertas Vitas. They inspected facilities undergoing renovation to soon house the editorial office of the Draugas newspaper and discussed the activities of LRC and CLC. Both organizations are grateful to the Lithuanian Foundation for its generous support.
LRC and the Lithuanian American Cultural Archive - Amerikos Lietuvių Kultūros Archyvas (ALKA) in Putnam, CT are working together to make Lithuanian archives more accessible!
ALKA offered to consolidate and transfer the archives of the Lithuanian American Relief Fund - Bendras Amerikos Lietuvių Šalpos Fondas (BALFAS) to LRC, which already had a large collection of BALFAS archives received after organization closed in 2008.
Huge thanks to Dr. Mirga Girnius and her entire Board for being so supportive—and extra thanks for helping load all those boxes into the truck! LRC personnel involved in the transfer in July were President Kristina Lapienytė and Chairman Robertas Vitas who traveled to Putnam, and in Lemont from left: Ignas Bublys, Andrius Vitas, Archives Director Dr. Indrė Antanaitis-Jacobs, Volunteer Coordinator Gaile Vitas, and Algis Kazlauskas.
With the sale of the Draugas building, not only the Draugas office have to move out, but also its accumulated property. Draugas transferred the books it had collected over many years to LRC. We thank the volunteers for their help in moving the books in July: Gediminas Indreika, Rimas Černius, Gaile Vitas, Marytė Utz, Algis Kazlauskas, Andrius Vitas, and Ignas Bublys.
Lucca Indriūnas is a master's student at the State University of Sao Paulo / UNESP in Brazil. He is currently a visiting scholar at Emory University in Atlanta, studying the Brazilian Lithuanian press and how it presented anti-communist sentiment. Lucca spent a week in August reviewing LRC’s collections with Archives Director Dr. Indrė Antanaitis Jacobs.
Loreta Ezerski and Sister Margaret Petcavage of the Sisters of Saint Casimir visited in August. They both donated documents and photos. Sister Margaret donated a 600-page book she authored, The Case of Mother Marija Kaupaitė, presented at the Vatican to further her road to sainthood. Sister Margaret, Loreta, and Archivist Gaile Vitas stand at LRC’s entrance.
Laurynas Misevičius, long-time Lithuanian sports organizer and friend of LRC, visited LRC in August and donated periodicals and merchandise he obtained at the World Lithuanian Sports Games in Palanga.
Dr. Robertas Vitas participated in the “Sendraugių Ateitininkų” Labor Day weekend in Camp Dainava with a lecture entitled "From Lithuania to America: How War Decided Our Fate." Dr. Ramunė Račkauskienė and Algis Kazlauskas, both LTC volunteers, also participated.
On September 6, the Lithuanian Research Center participated in Community Day at the Chicago Lithuanian Center, presenting information on archival preservation and upcoming projects. On the left are Robertas Vitas, Chicago Lithuanian Center President Antanas Rašymas and Dr. Audrius Plioplys, who is on the CLC’s Board and also administers his archive at LRC.
On September 7, the Blessed Jurgis Matulaitis Mission and the Lithuanian World Center in Lemont invited Lithuanians to Community Day, where LRC participated with information on its programs.
The newly appointed Lithuanian Ambassador to the United States, Gediminas Varvuolis (top right), also attended. The ambassador and guests later visited and toured the Lithuanian Research Center’s facility in Lemont.
Other visitors to the LRC table were Artūras Žilys (top left) and Aistė Velde, Lithuanian American Community Vice President for Archives Regina Butkus and American Lithuanian Hall of Fame President Jonas Platakis (lower left).
The 90th anniversary of Lithuanian aviator Feliks Vaitkus’s transatlantic flight was commemorated in Kohler, Wisconsin on September 20. LRC Chairman Dr. Robertas Vitas shared insights about Vaitkus’s life and legacy at the Wisconsin Aviation Heritage Center (left). Diplomats and military officers from Lithuania also participated.
LRC participated in a ceremony on September 24 when Lithuania's President Gitanas Nausėda and the First Lady Diana Nausėdienė unveiled the Lithuanian Alliance of America's (LAA) new flag in New York, a reproduction of the original one which was well worn after a century. LRC and LAA are partners in archival preservation.
The duly elected President of Belarus (forced into exile in Lithuania by the Lukashenko regime), Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, delivered a speech on the situation in her country at the University of Chicago on September 26. Robertas Vitas and LRC Volunteer Coordinator Gaile Vitas were invited to participate.
Kamilė Perminė from the Kazickas Family Foundation (right) and Indrė Laučienė from Vilnius International House visited LRC on September 26. They were later joined by (from left) Jūratė Mereckienė, Executive Director of the Lithuanian Foundation, Elena Reklaitis, Executive Director of the Lithuanian World Center (LWC), and Rasa Statulevičienė, LWC’s Marketing Director.
Karolina Vosyliūtė, a senior at Naperville High School, began volunteering at LRC by scanning documents and photos. LRC always welcomes younger people to become acquainted with our collections and activities.
