Geography-Regions

An Immigrants’ Grandson Remembers: Life and Death in a Pennsylvania Coal ‘Patch

Reminiscences of Bernard Terway about his youth from 1940-1959 in Seltzer City, Pennsylvania, composed by Sandy Baksys. In June 1940, when I was just five weeks old, my father Joseph Tirva, 45, was buried alive in an accident in a “bootleg” coal mine. Dad’s so-called “coal hole” couldn’t have been …

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Mission Accomplished, Almost. THE LITHUANIAN-AMERICAN HERITAGE MAP

“Destination Lithuanian America,” the five-year-long heritage mapping project, is coming to a close. This January, project director Augustinas Žemaitis added his last 100 discovered heritage sites to the 750-site compendium. The map covers Lithuanian-American churches, cemeteries, clubs, monuments, museums, and locations otherwise falling under the rubric of “Lithuanian heritage.” It …

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Birutė Mary Galdikas and her Fight for the Orangutans (LH interview)

Editor’s prologue: Lithuanian Heritage published an article by Tom Gregg about celebrated Canadian/ American-Lithuanian anthropologist Dr. Birutė Mary Galdikas in the November/December 1998 issue. In preparation for this follow-up interview, I extracted that article and put it on our website in the open access area: www.draugas.org/extracts/bgaldikas.pdf. We also viewed the …

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Woods? What Woods? Are Lithuania’s Forests in Jeopardy?

As the world seeks to slow the pace of climate change and preserve wildlife and, ultimately, humanity, trees appear to hold a significant part of the answer. Yet, deforestation continues, sacrificing the long-term benefits of mature standing trees for short-term gains. Of course, Lithuania’s tiny landmass is trivial compared to …

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They came from Vilnius. Digging for Hidden Treasure Finding Lithuanian markers across America

A meeting with local contacts (from l.) Aistė Žemaitienė, Stephen Kwedar, M.D., Susan Eby, Mary Ann Rackauskas, D.D.S., Rick Dunham, Augustinas Žemaitis, Gražina Macius, Sheila Mack, Maureen (Mack) Mueller. Photo by Sandra Baksys

Sandra Baksys. After 25 days and 4,500 miles criss-crossing the Midwest, following upon the heels of a similar expedition on the East Coast last year, Augustinas Žemaitis and Aistė Žemaitienė, both of Vilnius, Lithuania, have visited more Lithuanian-American heritage sites than anyone else in the world. This year’s “Destination Lithuanian …

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First trips to Lithuania in 1977–78

by Raimundas Balsys. Over the years, Mom and Dad kept in touch with relatives who had stayed behind in Lithuania. Mom was always writing letters and sending boxes of used clothing to the old country. The relatives thought that America’s streets were paved in gold. They would send letters requesting …

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On the Road Again in Lithuania

A collection of wayside crosses encountered on the road from Šiauliai to Vilnius.

John Baltrus. As promised almost two years ago (in Draugas News, July 2017) this past summer, I returned to Lithuania to continue my exploration of its countryside by bicycle. All I needed to do was dust off my bike, put air in my tires, and hit the road. I thus …

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The Oklahoma Saga Continues

Lithuanian Oklahomans gathered to establish the Oklahoma Lithuanian Club.

Vilius Žalpys. In the April 2018 issue of Draugas News, Vilius Žalpys conveyed his initial findings of Lithuanian pioneers in Oklahoma. Here he continues to report on the latest developments in this fascinating but little known Lithuanian enclave. The Oklahoma File Revisited This fall I returned to Oklahoma for a …

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We Thought We’d Be Back Soon: 18 Stories of Refugees 1940-44 Selected and Edited by Dalia Stake Anysas, Dalia Cidzikaitė, and ALaima Petrauskas Vanderstoep

We Thought We’d be Back Soon book signing at the Lithuanian World Center in Lemont, Illinois. The book’s editors (from left) Dalia Cidzikaitė, Laima Petrauskas Vanderstoep and Dalia Stake Anysas meet with enthusiastic readers.

Sandra Baksys. As traumatized survivors of three invasions of their homeland (Soviets in 1940, Nazis in 1941, and Soviets, again, in 1944), members of Lithuania’s “DP” generation were famously tight-lipped about their World War II refugee experiences. Until my father Vince was in his 70s and 80s, I learned few …

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