International cooperation of Lithuanian archives occurs through agreements with neighboring countries like Ukraine, Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Russia, and others like Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, and Kazakhstan. This cooperation includes exchanging professional information and publications, organizing joint exhibitions, and sharing digitized and microfilmed copies of relevant documents. Some notable exchanges include copies of letters from Lithuanian dukes to Latvia and documents from Germany. Cooperation also occurs between Lithuanian archives and institutions like Stanford University to share copies of historical documents.

1. International / Inter-institutional
Cooperation of Lithuanian Archives
Rūta Steponavičiūtė
Senior specialist
Office of the Chief Archivist of Lithuania
Tartu, Estonia, 29 May 2017

2. Internationalcooperationin
in The Office of the
Chief Archivist of
Lithuania

3. 3 most commontypes of agreementsof
LithuanianState ArchivalSystem

4. Afterregainingtheindependencein1990’s
treatiesweresignedwithneighbouring
countries:
• Ukraine (1991, renewed 2014)
• Belarus (1992)
• Estonia (1992)
• Latvia (1992)
• Poland (1992, renewed 2012)
• Russia (1999)
4

5. LaterLithuanianarchives startedto build
up relations withother countries archives:
• Kyrgyzstan (2004)
• Georgia (2009)
• Kazakhstan (2010)
• Bosnia and Hercegovina (2016)
5

6. Internationalcooperationoccurs in the
fields of:
• Exchanging professional information – literature, methods,
training, best practices
6

7. • Organizing common exhibitions and publishing
joint publications
7

8. • Exchangingmicrofilmedanddigitalcopiesofdocuments
relevanttoeachsignatories
8

9. • In the 2005 the Directorate General of
Latvia State Archives delivered copies
of letters from Lithuanian Dukes
Gediminas and Vytautas Magnus.
• In the 2007 the Bundesarchiv of the
Federal Republic of Germany
transferred the parchment to
Lithuanian archives (one document,
dated 1493, the document of Nikolaus’
chapel in Kaunas, Lithuania).
This transactions are a unique case in
the history of independent Lithuania. 9
During the cooperation with neighbouring
nations, Lithuanian archives have received few
giftsfromit‘spartners:

10. Not only international...
Inter-institutionalcooperationtoo!
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11. YIVO VilniusProject (“TheYIVO Vilna
Collections Project”)
• Aim of the project is to create the largest digital collection preserving the
historical memory of East European Jews.
• The project will seek to preserve, digitize and virtually reunite YIVO's
pre-war archives located in New York and Vilnius, and to digitally
reconstruct M. Strašūnas Library of Vilnius, one of the greatest prewar
libraries in Europe. The project encompasses 10,000 rare or unique
publications related to the life, society, science, religion, education, culture
and arts of East European Jews.
• Project partners: Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania, the
Lithuanian Central State Archive.
• The value of the project is
over EUR 4 million.
11

12. Cooperationwith Stanforduniversity
Hooverinstitution
Exchanging copies with Stanford university‘s
Hoover institution: Cooperation agreement signed in
2011. Since then Lithuanian Special archives
provided institution with copies of USSR special
service documents. Hoover institute transfered
document copies of artist Mieczysław Jałowiecki.
Also, Hoover institution transfered document copies
of diplomat Edvardas Turauskas.
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13. The mapof cooperation
13

14. But you can not get such a greatresults
without high qualified,motivated
specialistsand teamwork!
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15. 15
r.steponaviciute@archyvai.lt
We preserve our past so that future generations will not forget their history