Manuscript Heritage of Lithuanian History from the 18th to the Early 20th Century in Wrocław

Abstract

This article provides an overview of the manuscript heritage of Lithuanian studies from the 18th to the early 20th century in the archives of Wrocław, the capital of the Silesian Voivodeship in Poland. The main institution with the most extensive collection of Lithuanian archival material from the period in question is the National Ossoliński Institute, founded by collector and researcher of the heritage of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Józef Kajetan
Piotr Maksymilian Ossoliński, who lived at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. After his death, the library he founded operated in Lviv for a long time, and after World War II, its materials were divided between Poland and the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. It can be said that the Lithuanian heritage preserved by the Ossoliński Institute is still little known to Lithuanian researchers. The institute holds collections related to the most prominent aristocratic
families of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, as well as collections documenting the activities of Vilnius University professors and members of the Vilnius Archaeological Commission.