Metadata: Vytautas Magnus University
Collection
- Country:
- Lithuania
- Holding institution:
- Lithuanian Central State Archives
- Holding institution (official language):
- Lietuvos centrinis valstybės archyvas
- Postal address:
- O. Milašiaus g. 21, 10102 Vilnius
- Phone number:
- +370 5 247 7830
- Web address:
- http://www.archyvai.lt/lt/lcva.html
- Email:
- lcva@archyvai.lt
- Reference number:
- 631
- Title:
- Vytautas Magnus University
- Title (official language):
- Vytauto Didžiojo universitetas
- Creator/accumulator:
- Vytautas Magnus University
- Date(s):
- 1918/1950
- Language:
- English
- German
- French
- Latin
- Lithuanian
- Yiddish
- Polish
- Russian
- Extent:
- 28,911 files
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
- The collection contains materials relating to the Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas. The records include: university circulars; documents of various faculties; papers of student organisations; academic and diploma papers of the students; dissertations; personal files of the staff; lists of students and the personal files of students; financial records; etc. An important part of these records contains materials of Jewish student organisations. These materials make it possible to understand what kind of Jewish student fellowships were available in Lithuania during the interwar period and what kind of ideals they tried to impart among the Jewish students. The collection includes, for example, documents of a joint cultural fellowship of Lithuanian and Jewish students (inventory 2, file 74). Many of the organisations were Zionist and promoted the study and development of the Hebrew language, Jewish literature and Jewish culture, such as the "Alhamišmar" fellowship in support of Hebrew language and literature (inventory 2, file 7); a fellowship of Jewish students “Hasmonea" (inventory 2, file 62); "Tchija" fellowship of female Jewish students (inventory 2, file 71); Revisionists-Zionists students fellowship (inventory 2, file 139); and more. Some of these materials include lists of the fellowships members. The collection also includes personal files belonging to Jewish students; dissertations, transcripts, and diplomas; and correspondence between a foreign library and the Vilnius Jewish library concerning a question about book exchanges (inventory 13, file 193).
- Archival history:
- In 1950, the materials were transferred from Kaunas State University (formerly Vytautas Magnus University) to the Kaunas branch of the Central State Archives of the Lithuanian SSR. In 1969, the materials were handed over to the Central State Archives of the Lithuanian SSR in Vilnius, predecessor of the modern Lithuanian Central State Archives.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- At the beginning of 1920, Higher Courses of Study were founded in Kaunas, the provisional capital of Lithuania. In 1922 the University of Lithuania was established and in 1930 it was renamed the Vytautas Magnus University. In 1940, after the occupation of Lithuania by the Soviet Union, the university was renamed the University of Kaunas. In 1950 the university was reorganised, divided and shut down. It was re-established only in 1989.
- Access points: locations:
- Kaunas
- System of arrangement:
- The collection consists of twenty-nine inventories, which are arranged in chronological-thematic order.
- Finding aids:
- Detailed inventories are available for free online access on the website of the Lithuanian Chief Archivist Service.
- Links to finding aids:
- https://eais-pub.archyvai.lt/eais/faces/pages/forms/search/F3001.jspx
- Yerusha Network member:
- Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People
- Author of the description:
- Ilya Vovshin, Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People, 2019