The Lithuanian Emigration Institute

    The Lithuanian Emigration Institute is a public organization established in March 2000. Its main purpose is to collect, study, preserve, and exhibit the archival materials that constitute the cultural, political, and scholarly heritage of the Lithuanian diaspora, embracing both organizations and individuals. The Institute was organized on the basis of the Center for Lithuanian Diaspora Studies established in 1994 at Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas.

 The Founders:

Vytautas Magnus University

  The Municipality of Kaunas

The Director:

Egidijus Aleksandravičius

 Fields of activity:

• Archival – collecting, managing, safeguarding diaspora archives, and providing user/reader services;

• Scholarly – studying the archival material and publishing the results of research on it;

• Publishing – the archival sources are published in the serial publication Egzodo archyvas;

• Educational – organizing scholarly conferences, seminars, and exhibits.

   The Lithuanian Emigration Institute also carries on research of Lithuanian archive materials using a variety of research methods. Current research fields include the cultural history of Lithuanian diaspora and also the history of Lithuanian diaspora literature.

   The Institute regularly hold scholarly conferences and seminars devoted to topics in Lithuanian history and literature, and organizes meetings with representatives of the current Lithuanian diaspora.

   The Institute maintains an on-going exhibition of Lithuanian diaspora political, cultural, and community life; and regularly sponsors thematic exhibitions culled from the Institute‘s archives.

 Archives

   The Lithuanian Emigration Institute collects and researches the archive materials of Lithuanian diaspora. The Institute holds valuable archive materials that were collected and donated to the Institute by the President of the Republic of Lithuania Valdas Adamkus, Bronius Kviklys, Vytautas Kamantas, Vincas Rastenis, Gintautas Vėžys, Bronys Raila, Jurgis Gimbutas, Juozas Danys, Aleksas Vaškelis, Henrikas Žemelis, Aleksandras Štromas, Aleksandras Vakselis, Karolis Drunga-Jurgis Valiulis, Kęstutis Skrupskelis, Adolfas Damušis, Edvardas Turauskas, Santara - Šviesa federation, lithuanian émigré newspaper “Akiračiai”, Liūtas Mockūnas, Vincas Valkavičius, Dalia Sruogaitė, Bronius Bieliukas, Leonardas Valiukas, Vytautas Alantas, Bronius Nemickas, Antanas Juodvalkis, Vincas Natkevičius, Ugnė Karvelis, Jonas Petrošius, Jurgis Janušaitis, émigré journal “Lietuvių dienos”, Alfred Erich Senn, the Algimantas Mackus Publication Fund, an émigré cultural journal “Metmenys”, and other individuals and organizations. New holdings are constantly added to the Institute's collections.

  

Staff of the Institute:

Prof. Egidijus Aleksandravičius - director (e.aleksandravicius@hmf.vdu.lt)

Dr. Dalia Kuizinienė - fellow (d.kuiziniene@hmf.vdu.lt)
Dr. Daiva Dapkutė - fellow (d.dapkute@hmf.vdu.lt)
Dr. Linas Saldukas - fellow (l.saldukas@hmf.vdu.lt)

Dr. Daiva Kuzmickaitė - fellow (d.kuzmickaite@pmdi.vdu.lt)

Mykolas Drunga - fellow (sirutis20@yahoo.com)
Ilona Bučinskytė - junior fellow (i.bucinskyte@hmf.vdu.lt)

Giedrius Janauskas - fellow (g.janauskas@hmf.vdu.lt)

Asta Petraitytė - director of the S.Lozoraitis museum (Asta_Petraityte@fc.vdu.lt)

The Lithuanian Emigration Institute

S. Daukanto st. 25
LT-44249 Kaunas
Lithuanian

Ph./Fax: +370 37 327 839

E-mail: isc@fc.vdu.lt