History-before-1900

by Milliades Varvounis There were only four Jesuit missionaries from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth preaching the Word of God in the Heart of Asia in the 17th-18th centuries! Despite their small number, they left their mark on the history of the religious, scientific, and even political relations between Europe and Asia. …

LH: Can you tell us something about yourself, and why you are interested in the history of Mahanoy City in Pennsylvania, and why you are interested in the history of Lithuanian Americans in Mahanoy? Do you have any ancestors or close relatives that came from Lithuania? Coombe: I was born …

by Elena Bradūnas-Aglinskas In 1972 I embarked on a documentary expedition to the anthracite region of eastern Pennsylvania to see if the Lithuanian immigrants who came to America at the turn of the 19th–20th century remembered any songs from the “old country.” I focused primarily on the town of Shenandoah, …

Lukrecijus Tubys This summer, heritage conservationist and cultural explorer Vilius Žalpys led another group of young Lithuanians on the fourth annual “Roots” (Šaknys) expedition, aimed at restoring abandoned graves of Lithuanian immigrants and uncovering the stories of their ancestors. The group traveled to Pennsylvania’s Anthracite region, known for its historic …

by Tom Gregg (Grigonis) Eons ago in his prime he depicted the country’s elite, including Arvydas Sabonis senior, Valdas Adamkus, Jonas Mekas and Vytautas Landsbergis. He chronicled demonstrations in Kaunas following Romas Kalanta’s self-immolation in 1972. For this he was arrested, sentenced to 15 days in jail, and expelled (temporarily) …

Laima Vincė. When I was growing up in the 1970’s and 1980’s, our family made a yearly summer pilgrimage to the St. Anthony’s Guest House on the Franciscan monastery grounds. My mother recalls spending her summers here in the 1950s and 1960s. Back then, we would hear Lithuanian spoken on …

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 …

“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 …

By Kęstutis Civinskas. LITHUANIAN HERITAGE May / June 2021 The year is 1899. The world is at the doorstep of a new century. The final decade of the old century is described as gay, merry, and optimistic, even though there is economic depression in the US and no fewer than …

Linas Jegelevičius, Representing Draugas News in Lithuania. There are books that are so riveting that you just can’t put them down. Two books by Gediminas Kulikauskas, Contraband of Oranges and The Lithuanian Code, both bestsellers, are among my favorite reads. Their author, who also wrote, Electricity Boycott and The Republic …