The 30th Anniversary of the Lithuanian Emigration Institute: History, Works, and Perspectives

From the Center to the Lithuanian Emigration Institute: Three Decades of Diaspora Research

Abstract

In 1989, with the efforts of Lithuania’s academic intelligentsia and the émigré community, Vytautas Magnus University (VMU) was re-established in Kaunas. Its concept was shaped as a vision of a “university for Lithuanians worldwide,” with the hope that it would become a hub for uniting the academic forces of the global Lithuanian community and a center for cooperation between Lithuania and its diaspora. In 1994, the Center for Lithuanian Diaspora Studies was established at VMU, later evolving into the Lithuanian Emigration Institute – at the time, the only academic institution of its kind in Lithuania dedicated specifically to studying the emergence of the Lithuanian diaspora worldwide, as well as its cultural, political, and civic activities. The institute also focused on collecting, preserving, and researching the documentary heritage of the diaspora. Over the course of three decades, the center evolved: its staff changed, the number of preserved cultural heritage collections and completed research projects grew, and a strong school of Lithuanian diaspora history research took shape. Today, its scholars can be found throughout various academic and research institutions in Lithuania. This article, drawing on historiography, archival documents (preserved at Vytautas Magnus University, the Lithuanian Emigration Institute, and private collections), as well as published sources, seeks to uncover the circumstances of the Institute’s founding, introduce the people who worked there, and highlight the key features of the Institute’s thirty years of activity.