The Board of Directors of the Lithuanian Catholic Federation “Ateitis” of North America, whose membership is known as “Ateitininkai”, appeals to individuals of Lithuanian descent to submit any archival materials related to the activities of “Ateitininkai” in the diaspora from 1945 to the present day.
The Board has been consulting with scholars in Lithuania about writing a history of the “Ateitis” organization in the diaspora. To that end, we have recently begun compiling a list of historical sources about “Ateitininkai” in the diaspora. Some archival material is stored in well-known institutions, such as the Lithuanian Research and Studies Center in Lemont (Illinois) and the American Lithuanian Cultural Archives in Putnam (Connecticut).
However, there may be much useful material in personal archives. Those archives have not yet been systematically catalogued in one place. The Board has resolved to do this for two reasons: 1) to call attention to these archives and urge their owners to preserve them (especially if they inherited them from their parents or grandparents) and 2) to compile a list of them so that scholars in Lithuania will know where they are and how they can be accessed.
Examples of valuable archival material include: meeting minutes (encompassing all organizational levels, from local chapters to federation leadership), financial documents, local chapter and summer camp newsletters, course notes, speech texts and drafts, correspondence (personal and official), diaries, digitized materials, photographs, video and audio recordings, event posters, flags, banners, and various paraphernalia (badges, stickers, T-shirts, mugs, etc.).
If you possess such archival material, we encourage you to notify Board member and historian Dr. Indrė Čuplinskas by January 15, 2023, at [email protected].
Darius Polikaitis, Board Chair
Indrė Čuplinskas, Board Member
