Lithuania

LITHUANIAN FOLKLORE ARCHIVES OF THE INSTITUTE OF LITHUANIAN LITERATURE AND FOLKLORE

THE ETHNOGRAPHIC MANUSCRIPT COLLECTION AT THE LITHUANIAN INSTITUTE OF HISTORY

LITHUANIAN FOLKLORE ARCHIVES OF THE INSTITUTE OF LITHUANIAN LITERATURE AND FOLKLORE

Lietuvių literatūros ir tautosakos instituto Lietuvių tautosakos rankraštynas

The beginning of our Archives is linked with the activities of the Lithuanian Science Society working in Vilnius from 1907–1940. Its chairman, Dr. Jonas Basanavičius, and other members actively promoted the collection of folklore. Following the occupation of Vilnius region, the funds of LSS became unavailable to scholars working in the independent Lithuania, so the Folklore Commission (1930–1935) and the Commission for the Gathering of Folk Melodies (1934–1935) were established in Kaunas. In 1935, these Commissions were joined together, and the Lithuanian Folklore Archives was founded. In 1941 the collections of the LFA and LSS were merged and placed under the provenance of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences. Since 1990 the Archives is a part of the Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore.

Collections

The Lithuanian Folklore Archives of the ILLF preserve collections of manuscripts, photographs, and negatives as well as sound and video recordings, covering all aspects of folklore, including the folklore of other nationalities in Lithuania. It stores the oldest folklore manuscript collections of the Lithuanian Science Society, including files written by the Lithuanian writers (Simonas Daukantas, Juozas Tumas-Vaižgantas, Gabrielė Petkevičaitė-Bitė, Julius Janonis, etc.), and wax cylinders; manuscript collections and phonograph discs of the Lithuanian Folklore Archives (1935–1939); personal collections by famous folklorists (Zenonas Slaviūnas, Stasys Paliulis, Jurgis Dovydaitis, Jonas Balys, etc.); digital materials from modern fieldwork, etc. Holdings include audiovisual recordings, manuscripts, correspondence, diaries, journals, photographs, posters, and printed ephemera. BMUFA maintains a Research Library covering topics of Ukrainian folklore, general folklore theory, history and culture of Ukrainian Canadians and other Ukrainian diaspora communities. BMUFA houses a collection of artifacts that is used for teaching, research, as well as for exhibits and other outreach activities.