The Board of the Lithuanian American Cultural Archive (Lith. Amerikos Lietuvių Kultūros Archyvas) agreed to consolidate and to transfer the archives of the United Lithuanian Relief Fund of America (Lith. Bendras Amerikos Lietuvių Fondas) to the Lithuanian Research Center in Lemont. The LRC already had a large collection of the Lithuanian American Relief Fund’s archives received after organization closed in 2008. The project is supported by the Lithuanian Foundation, Inc.
BALF was a Lithuanian American relief organization that operated from 1944 to 2008. Headquartered in Brooklyn, since 1973 in Chicago. The founders were the Lithuanian Catholic Church in the United States, the Lithuanian Socialist Union of America, the Lithuanian Nationalists Union and Sandara. It had branches in the United States and Canada. In the 1970s, the core of the organization consisted of about 4,000 people.
From the very beginning, supported by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, BALF was accepted into the National War Fund. BALF was also supported by the National Catholic Welfare Conference. The organization cooperated with UNRRA and later, IRO. After the end of World War II and mass emigration from Europe, support from the US government and organizations ceased. BALF funds began to be collected only from donations.
Up until 1956, BALF mainly helped Lithuanians in war refugee camps in Western Europe. Through the Lithuanian Red Cross, it supported Lithuanian cultural figures, and in 1946–1949, it awarded prizes for fiction. Since 1948, the BALF Immigration and Settlement Committee has been operating.
BALF advocated in the US Congress to adopt favorable immigration laws. The organization brought about 34,000 Lithuanian war refugees to the USA free of charge on ships provided by the government; they took care of the employment and accommodation of the arrivals. About 85% of the Lithuanians who arrived in the USA after World War II had BALF-provided job and housing guarantees.
The organization also supported those who remained in Western Europe and those who moved to South America.
Since 1956, BALF sent parcels to Lithuania, mainly to returned exiles and political prisoners, as well as to Siberia, Poland, the German Democratic Republic, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and other countries. After Lithuania regained its independence, the organization helped former political prisoners, exiles and partisans, single grandparents, the sick, unemployed families, orphans, etc. schools, youth organizations and institutions, and hospitals. In 1944–1968, the value of the shipments amounted to $5 million, in 1972–1984, $1.14 million were spent on aid; 3,600 were sent to the USSR, and 8,000 to Lithuanians in Poland.