COURAGE

savienojot kolekcijas

The Lithuanian Archive of Literature and Art was established on the basis of the LSSR Central State Archive of Literature and Art. The Soviet Lithuanian government established the Central State Archive of Literature and Art in 1968. At that time, the archive had 111 funds, and about 12,000 units. The government of the independent Republic of Lithuania changed the name of the archive to the Lithuanian State Archive of Art in 1990. The archive was given its current name, the Lithuanian Archive of Literature and Art, in 1993. It is now a public archive, supervised by the Office of the Chief Archivist, and controlled by the Ministry of Culture.

The Lithuanian Archive of Literature and Art preserves and accumulates records from state institutions, societal organisations and private persons, reflecting the development of culture and art in Lithuania. Most of the records are from the 20th century. Some documents in the collections of private persons date from the 15th century. The Library of the Archive of Literature and Art, which stores more than 177,067 publications from the 18th century to the present day, is a separate structural unit. The documents preserved in the archive comprise five sets: documents from cultural management institutions, documents from literary institutions, documents from art institutions, documents from music institutions, and documents from theatre and film institutions. The archive now has 790 funds, and more than 197,000 files.

The archive has changed its location once, moving from 11 Mindaugo St to 19 O. Milašiaus St in Vilnius.

The archives preserve records about state, local government, enterprises, religious communities, popular organisations, and other non-state institutions and individuals, dating from 1918 until 1990. The division of Sound and Image is the main repository of the audio-visual heritage in Lithuania. It preserves moving pictures made since 1919, photographic negatives and positives since the 1850s, sound recordings made since the 1950s, and videotapes from 1988 to the present day. Written documents make up 2,177 fonds, approximately 3.5 million files, occupying around 33,000 metres of shelf space. There are approximately 9,000 cinematographic documents (1910s to date). Copies of films made by the Lumiere Brothers in 1895, the earliest films ever made, are preserved in the archive. The archive also includes: a collection of Lithuanian newsreels from 1918 to 1940, and work by the first Lithuanian cameramen, K. Lukšys, J.Milius, the brothers Motūza-Beleckas, S. Vainalavičius, S. Uzdonas and J. Miežlaiškis; cinematographic material relating to the period of the Second World War; documentaries made in the Lithuanian Film Studios and Lithuanian Television in 1946–1990; the first Lithuanian feature films ‘The Blue Horizon’ (Žydrasis horizontas), ‘The Bridge’ (Tiltas), ‘Ignotas Returned Home’ (Ignotas grįžo namo), ‘Turkeys’ (Kalakutai), and others.
According to the archivist Vaidas Agurkis, the documents and collections in the archive are chronologicaly limited to the period 1918-1990. The archive does not seek to obtain new collections. There are only a few exceptions when the archive receives new collections. These are related mainly to the Lithuanian diplomatic service abroad, or some private initiatives. Some documents were transferred from the archive to other archives. For example, part of the Glavlit collection was given to the Lithaunian Archive of Literature and Art. Agurkis says that only three employees at the archive look after the handling, managing and describing of new items. Because of this, the creation and formalisation of new acquisitions takes some years after receiving them.