News archive

VEMU Estonian Museum Canada organized the first translation competition in 2021, which turned out to be surprisingly popular: 26 people from 8 different countries participated. The winner was Tiina Otema from Toronto, who has, to date, produced her first translated work — Juhan Pütsepp’s “The Moon is Like a Golden Ship,” 2024.

In January, associate professor Aigi Rahi-Tamm and doctoral student Katariina Sofia Päts from the University of Tartu visited the VEMU archives to do research work. They also held a discussion on the topic “Three Estonians: dialogues between home, refugee, and deported Estonia.” The event can be viewed here.

In January 2025, researchers from the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Latvia initiated a three-year project to examine the post-exilic experience of Latvian exiles following Latvia’s regained independence in 1991.

On December 2024, the first issue of International Journal of Documentary Heritage (IJODH) came out. Published last year under the auspices of the UNESCO International Centre for Documentary Heritage (ICDH), IJODH will serve as a window to promote interdisciplinary research on documentary heritage. The new publication is the first and only academic platform in the field of documentary heritage.

On January 9, 2025 the National Library of Lithuania hosted a book presentation of an exceptional photo album Gabalėliai Lietuvos: Amerika (Pieces of Lithuania: The United States of America), prepared by Augustinas and Aistė Žemaitis.

The year 2024 marked thirty years since Vytautas Magnus University (VMU) began conducting research on the history of the Lithuanian diaspora. In November 1994, the Center for Diaspora Studies was established at VMU, later renamed the Lithuanian Emigration Institute (hereinafter, LEI).

The National Archives of Estonia is calling for grant applications for projects that support the collection, preservation, and publication of Estonian cultural heritage created by expatriates or about expatriates.

On December 12, 2024, the Heritage Commission hosted an event and a roundtable discussion “Walking the Paths of Diaspora Artists: Significant Lithuanian Cultural Heritage in France” at the National Library of Lithuania. During the event, diplomats, artists and other prominent figures, such as Arbit Blatas, Michel Kikoïne, Marc Chagall and others, whose creative and public activities continued after leaving Lithuania were introduced, stories about cultural heritage objects and places of memory in France were shared.

The autumn edition of the Baltic Heritage Network quarterly newsletter is now available. In these pages, you will find information about our past and future events, new publications, and what is happening across the globe within the diaspora research and archive communities. We welcome your contributions. The submission deadline for the next issue is February 15, 2025. We welcome news articles, conference information, calls for papers, and new publication information. Please send articles in English with high-quality “.jpg” images to: piretnoorhani[at]gmail.com. IN THIS ISSUE:– “Free Winds” exhibition– EstoCast’s Upward Flight Continues!– VEMU Writers’ Club Turns One Year Old– Armas Maiste 95– The 105th Anniversary of the Estonian-language University of Tartu at Tartu College– High recognition to Estonian-Canadian turntablist Erik Laar– A Century of Lithuanian Artists in Chicago– Stanford University Welcomes Čekanauskas’s Book Collection– A Book Event at the National Library of Lithuania– Two Events Dedicated to Lithuanian Americans– New documentary about Estonian refugees in wartime and postwar Germany– Fighting Against Enemies of Ukraine Through Diaspora Estonian Music– The Stories of Diaspora Estonians on Vikerraadio– The family history sources of the 20th century– Book recommendations– VEMU Estonian Museum Canada’s exhibition “Our Tartu: 50 Years of Tartu College”– Bartusevičius’s Archive Arrived to the National Library of Lithuania Please click on the pdf link below to read more: https://www.balther.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/BHN_4_47_2024.pdf _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The Baltic Heritage Newsletter is distributed quarterly, on-line.