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© 1958 Lithuanian
Students Association, Inc. September, 1958 Vol. 4, No. 3 Managing Editor P. V. Vygantas |
LITHUANIAN ETHNOGRAPHICAL STUDIES
A Survey of Ethnographical Museums and Societies
ANTANAS MAŽIULIS
ANTANAS
MAŽIULIS studied literature and folklore at the University of Vytautas
the Great in Kaunas, Lithuania, also attended University of Tue-bingen
in Germany, hi the United States was associated with Philadelphia
Public Library. At present time he is on the editing staff of
Lithuanian Encyclopedia. Writes frequently on etnographical subjects.
When the Lithuanian State was reconstructed in the
years 1918-23, substantial parts of ethnographic Lithuania (Lituania
propria), not to speak of historical Lithuania, remained outside the
boundaries cf the new state. Most of the material that had been
gathered in the field of Lithuanian ethnography remained in thosa
territories that passed to Poland and Germany. Since relations with
those states were not friendly, Lithuanian ethnographers were deprived
of the fruits of past research and had to begin completely afresh. The
libraries and collections of archeological relics that Tsarist Russia
had not succeeded in expropriating were in Vilnius, and there too
remained the Lithuanian Society of Science founded in 1907 with its
museum and library. So-called Lithuania Minor, with the city of Tilžė
(Tilsit, now Sovietsk), went to Germany, and with Tilže went the
Litaui-sche Gesellschaft and its museum and library, with their
substantial collections of Lithuanian books and relics. Lithuania
itself, situated next to the invasion route of the large Central
European imperialist countries and preserving sovereignty over only
half its ethnographic territories, inherited only the small municipal
museum in Kaunas, with soms 3,000 exhibits, a few documents having to
do with Kaunas, and some 70 research volumes. It also inherited the
so-called Baublys, a tiny museum founded by D. Poška in 1812; the stem
of an old, burned out oak tree served as the location of this unique
museum. But this museum had been vandalized by the Germans in 1915-18,
and only 200 prehistoric and geological relics remained. The city of
Kaunas and Lithuania itself did not at this time posses a single
scholarly library or collection of Lithuanian material; the public
library in Kaunas owned only a few hundred Russian, German and Jewish
novels, some textbooks on German and Russian history, and several
purely Lithuanian studies that had found their way there by accident.
This was the whole of the meager inheritance of the Lithuanian state
for its educational and scientific work. And a completely new start had
to made in the field of ethnography, with the founding of societies for
ethnographical research and the preservation and study of cultural
monuments.
The Preservation of Cultural Monuments
With
the transfer of the Lithuanian government from Vilnius to Kaunas in
January, 1919, the first efforts toward the preservation of Lithuanian
cultural monuments were made. T. Daugirdas, director of the municipal
museum in Kaunas, was placed in charge of all prehistoric and
ethnographic matters. He and his four assistants were given the task of
organizing the preservations of all cultural monuments, libraries and
art collections. A State Archeological Commission was set up in 1919
for this purpose, with Daugirdas as its chairman; it was responsible
for the preservation not only of cultural monuments but also of
documents and private libraries, many of which had been abandoned
during the war. During and after the First World War, many manor houses
had been left ownerless, and the retreating Russian soldiers, and later
German soldiers, pillaged their libraries and art collections. The
Germans were especially systematic in their efforts to carry as much as
possibls of this treasure back to Germany. What treasures remained
after this looting by the Russians and Germans, and in some cases by
Bolsheviks, could be preserved only by government intervention, and it
is owing to the efforts of the State Archeological Commission that
anything valuable fro the Lithuanian past were preserved. The
commission functioned until 1935, when its functions were taken over by
the newly reorganized and expanded Committee for the Preservation of
Cultural Monuments, which existed until June, 1944. This group
registered all the Lithuanian castle-hills, ancient burial grounds, and
art monuments and made measurements of castles and other ancient
buildings.
Scientific and Educational Institutions
When
the University of Lithuania (called the University of Vytautas the
Great after 1930) was founded in 1922, ethnographical work was not
forgotten. The study of folklore was included in the faculty of
Lithuanian language and literature, and the course was made mandatory
for everyone who specialized in Lithuanian. The history faculty also
gave courses in prehistory. In 1933 a faculty of ethnology was founded;
this provided for specialization in Lithuanian folklore, ethnography
and prehistory and gave mandatory courses for Lithuanian specialists.
When Vilnius was returned to Lithuania in 1939, the faculty of
ethnology was transferred there and was split up into two faculties,
one of prehistory and one of ethnography, which functioned until March,
1943, when the German authorities closed all Lithuanian institutions of
higher education.
Besides the university's teaching work, there
were special groups primarily interested in research. In 1922 the
faculty of medicine founded an anatomical museum; this gradually became
a museum of anthropology, and studies were made there of the skulls and
skeletons of Lithuania's prehistoric inhabitants, as well as
anthropological measurements of Lithuanians. The results of this
research were published in "Medicina" ("Medicine") and in the works of
the faculty of medicine of the University of Vytautas the Great. The
work was headed by Frof. Dr. J. Žilinskas, who died in Water-bury,
Conn., in 1957. Some of the most important works in the field of
Lithuanian anthropology are: Akmens periodo žmogus Žemaitijoje ir Suvalkijoje (Stone Age Man in Žemaitija and Suvalkija), by J. Žilinskas, published in 1931; Lietuvių
rasine sudėtis pagal kraujo biologines savybes (Lithuanian Racial
Composition According to the Biological Properties of Blood), also by Žilinskas, published in 1930; Senojo geležies periodo Lietuvos gyventojų kaukolių studija (A Study of Skulls of Inhabitants of Lithuania in the Old Iron Age), by J. Žilinskas and R. Masalskis, published in 1937; Crania lituanica, by J. Žilinskas and A. Jurgutis, published in 1939; and Kraujo
grupes ir jų paskirstymas Lietuvos gyventojų tarpe (Blood Groups and
Their Distribution Among the Inhabitants of Lithuania), by M. Nat-kevičaite, published in 1929.
At
first the faculty of Lithuanian language and literature was responsible
for the collection and publication of Lithuanian folklore. In the years
1923-31 it published "Tauta ir žodis" ("The Nation and the Word"), and
later "Athenaeum" and "Darbai ir Dienos ("Works and Days"). In 1930 the
Commission on Lithuanian Folklore was established, and it became
responsible for the collection and study of folklore. It was headed by
Prof. Dr. V. Kreve-Mickevičius, who taught at Kaunas and Vilnius and at
the University of Pennsylvania and who died in 1954. In the years 1930
to 1935, this commission published volumes I to X of "Mūsų Tautosaka
("Our Folklore"); it also published Dainos (Songs), by J. Dovydaitis, in 1930, and Vol. I of Patarlės ir Priežodžiai (Proverbs and Maxims),
by V. Kreve-Mickevičius, in 1934. In the latter year a special
Commission for the Collection of Folksongs, headed by Prof. St.
šimutis, was founded. In 1935 the two commissions were merged and the
Lithuanian Folklore Archives was established. This group was headed by
Dr. K. Balys, who has taught at the University of Vytautas the Great,
the Baltic University in Hamburg and the University of Indiana, and he
occupied the post up to the Communist occupation of 1944. The
Lithuanian Folklore Archives published "Tautosakos Darbai" ("Works in
Folklore"), Vols. I-VII, in 1935-40. It also published an extensive
study by Dr. J. Balys on the ancient god Thunder. The archives began
the scientific and systematic publication of Lithuanian folklore. In
1939 it was incorporated into the Lithuanian Institute and in 1941 into
the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences. Up to January, 1940, the archives
had collected 150,154 songs, 15,378 melodies and 33,844 folk tales and
had made phonograph records of 8,324 items. In all, the Lithuanian
Folklore Archives had 442,084 items in its possession. In 1941 the
collection of the Lithuanian Society of Science (1907-36 and 1938-40)
was joined to that of the Lithuanian Folklore Archives. The Vilnius
society had in its collection some 50,000 folklore items plus a
substantial number of ethnographic descriptions; this represented what
the Polish government had not succeeded in destroying during the two
years the society was banned.
The collection of prehistoric,
ethnographic and other archeological relics was entrusted in 1919 to
the municipal museum in Kaunas. This museum had become the central
Lithuanian museum, and it carried out archeological diggings and other
work. In 1934 the Cultural Museum of Vytautas the Great was
established, with sections on prehistory, ethnography, history and art.
When this museum, which was housed in the buildings, was founded, the
prehistoric, ethnographic and art collections of the municipal museum
were turned over to it, the municipal museum retaining only items
having to do with the city of Kaunas. The cultural Museum of Vytautas
the Great became the principal museum in Lithuania, and it coordinated
the work of the whole network of Lithuanian museums. When the Cultural
Museum's prehistory section was organized, prehistory exhibits from
museums throughout the country were lent to it in order to present as
complete a picture as possible of Lithuania's prehistory. The borrowed
exhibits were to be returned to their owners once the museum's gaps
were filled with new findings. The museum had the task not only of
advising other museums but also of aiding them with exhibits. The
historical section of the museum remained unorganized up to 1940, and
later, with the beginning of the occupations, some of the material in
its possession was carefully hidden to preserve it from destruction. A
warning had been provided by the experience of the War Museum of
Vytautas the Great, which was vandalized by Soviet soldiers, who
carried some of its exhibits off to Moscow. In 1942-44 the same museum
was looted by German soldiers. The ethnographic section of the Cultural
Museum had not yet been opened, since it was planned to make this
section an outdoor museum, somewhat like the Swedish Skan-sen. The
organization of this open-air museum had been begun in 1939, and it had
been given the name Homeland Museum. However, beginning in 1937 the
ethnographic section made annual summer expeditions collecting various
relics. The art section was based on the former Čiurlionis Gallery
(founded in 1921). This gallery had collected 255 paintings and
drawings by M. K. Čiurlionis, as well as works by other Lithuanian
artists and artists frcm other European countries. Including a fclk art
csction, it owned some 12,000 items. When the Soviet Union occupied
Lithuania in 1940, the name of the Cultural Museum of Vytautas the
Great was changed, under orders from Moscow, to the State Art Museum of
Kaunas. The use of the old name was resumed in 1941-44, while with the
second Soviet occupation it was renamed the State M. Čiurlionis
Memorial Art Museum. In 1942 the Cultural Museum published an annual
that had been scheduled to appear in 1940 but that had been delayed by
the war. The Čiurlionis Gallery also published works in its field
separately.
In 1939 the Lithuanian Institute wa.s founded with
the purpose of furthering Lithuanian studies; it had sections for
Lithuanian ethnography, history, language and literature. In 1941 it
was absorbed into the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences. The historical
section of the institute suceeded in publishing Vol. I of Lietuvos Praeitis (The Lithuanian Past), and the folklore section published Vol. I of Lietuvių Liaudies Sakmes (Lithuanian Folk Tales).
Ethnographical Societies and Their Museums
Eccldes
the work carricd on from "above," through government institutions, many
private ethnographical societies flourished. These efforts from "below"
were characterized by the great number of these societies and by their
dedication. Societies of this type existed even before 1918, the year
of the declaration of independence. The Lithuanian Society of Science,
centered in Vilnius, maintained secret chapters in Kaunas, Riga,
Marijampolė and Ssinai. Also, many individuals maintained close ties
with the Litauische Literarische Gesellschaft. Eut these ties were
disrupted in 1919, and the interested individuals immediately began to
seek other organizational ties. In 1920 they gathered around the
Lithuanian Society of Art and Artists, whose members were especially
active in collecting folk art. Through their efforts, 12,613 exhibits
and some 5,000 photograph negatives were collected up to 1925, in which
year these treasures of folk art were incorporated in the Čiurlionis
Gallery that in 1935 became part of the Cultural Museum.
As
early as 1920 the high schools of Kaunas and Panevėžys had
ethnographical clubs whose members collected Lithuanian folklore and
relics; later there were such clubs in almost all the country's high
schools and institutions of higher education. In 1922 a club of this
sort was active at the School of Agriculture in Dotnuva, which later
became the Dotnuva Agricultural Academy. In 1923 a similar club was
founded at the University of Lithuania. A Society for the Study of the
Native Land was established in Panevėžys in 1924, and in the following
year the Lithuanian Ethnographical Society was founded in Kaunas. This
latter group evolved from the Kaunas chapter of the Lithuanian Society
of Science. Since all direct contact with Vilnius had been cut off,
correspondence could be maintained only through Latvia, and whatever
meetings could be arranged had to be secret and held in that country.
The aim of the Kaunas society was to coordinate activities throughout
the whole country. Later in 1929 this function was assumed by the
society of Sauliai, which was found 2d in 1927. In 1934-44 the society
of šauliai published "Gimtasai Kraštas" ("The Native Land"), a
periodical for Lithuanian ethnography and related fields. It was also
host to national gatherings in 1930, 1933 and 1935. Besides the
societies named above, many municipalities maintained societies of
their own. Notable among these were the ones at Alytus, founded in 1928
for the study of the Dzūkija area; at šakiai, founded in 1934 and
spscializing in the Zanavykai area; at Dusetos, founded in 1935; at
Kėdainiai, founded in 1926; at Kretinga, founded in 1934; and at
Marijampolė, founded in 1933. There were also the "Alka" society,
founded in 1931 in Telšiai for the study of Žemaitija (Samogithia).
All
these societies flourished up until June, 1940, when with the Soviet
occupation their activities were ended. In spite of the fact that they
were all newly registered in July, 1940, by September of that year they
had all passed out of existence. After the Lithuanian revolt of June
23, 1941, and the occupation of Lithuania by Germany and its
incorporation into the "Ostland," only the society of šauliai resumed
its activities after a fashion by continuing the publication of
"Gimtasai Kraštas." None of the other societies were revived, despite
efforts that were made to legalize them.
Besides the inherited
municipal museum in Kaunas and the Cultural Museum, many of the local
ethnographical societies in independent Lithuania maintained their own
museums, with the help of the municipal governments. Lithuanian
ethnography was the principal interest of most of these museums,
although they included prehistoric, numismatic, historic and art items
and in some cases natural history material. Unfortunately, statistics
as to the size of their collections are in many cases unavailable.
In
1928 the Museum of Dzūkija was founded in Alytus, a town of some 10,000
population. It suffered greatly from the war and German looting in
1941, but by 1944 it had rebuilt its collection to about 5,000 items in
various categories. Several exhibitions of the Lithuanian past were
held in neighboring towns under the museum's auspices. A museum was
also established in Biržai in 1928; it was particularly noted for its
large historical collection from the Castle of Biržai. In 1938 the town
of Dusetos gathered several separate collections together into a single
museum. This museum was looted by Bolshevik and German soldiers in
June, 1941, and its Mesolithic bone artifacts and ancient gold and
silver coins were stolen. But by 1944 it had built up its collection
once again to seme 3,000 items. In 1936 the town of Kaišiadorys
gathered local municipal collections into the Museum of Trakai (Trakai
itself was occupied by Poland at this time). In 1946 the museum was
moved to Trakai and there merged with a museum maintained by the
Karaimes, a Jewish sect that had settled in Lithuania in the 15th
century. A museum was founded at Kėdainiai in 1926 and one at Kelme in
1936; the latter was completely destroyed during the war. In 1935 a
museum was established in Kernavė, the legendary first capital of the
medieval Lithuanian state. This museum was noted for its extensive
collection of relics dealing with Kernave itself and for its many folk
sculptures "dievukai," which are statuettes of Christ, Mary and the
saints carved in wood. The port of Klaipeda (Memel) maintained several
museums. Besides the municipal museum, there was a separate museum of
ethnography and culture of the Lithuanians of the Klaipeda area founded
in 1922 by the "Aukuras" society. In 1935 attempts were made to
establish an open-air seaside museum, but the authorities of this
autonomous region within Lithuania refused to grant permission. The
museum owned more than 8,000 items, of which 6,000 had to do with the
prehistoric period. When the Germans occupied Klaipeda in 1939, the
museum was placed under German authorities who carried off the
collection to an unknown destination. A museum founded in Kretinga in
1935 had some 1,000 pieces of amber jewelry among its 5,000 or so
items. Museums were founded at Mažeikiai in 1930 and at Marijampole in
1932. A museum established in 1933 in the fishing village of Nida kept
prehistoric and amber collections and also had a section devoted to
fishermen's ethnography. The museum founded in Panevėžys in 1925 had an
extensive prehistoric, historic and ethnographic section. Many of the
museum's history exhibits were removed by Russian and German
authorities during the several occupations, and their whereabouts are
not known. Museums were also established in Plunge in 1934, Rokiškis in
1935 and šakiai in 1928.
One of the largest local museums was
that in Šiauliai. Established in 1923, it carried out prehistoric
excavations and sponsored annual ethnographic exhibits on its own. It
was called "Aušra," and it had some 30,000 ethnographic items. In
1930-33 it published, in conjunction with the city's ethnographic
society, the "Šiaulių Metraštis" ("Šiauliai Annual") and in 1934-44 the
quarterly "Gimtasai Kraštas." In 1941 the museum was turned over to the
Lithuanian Academy of Sciences, but in the following year it was
returned to the local society. When the military front approched the
city in 1944, a great many of the museum's exhibits, along with its
library and laboratories, were hidden to save them from destruction.
That same year the museum's buildings and remaining exhibits were
destroyed by Russian and German bombardment and artillery fire. In 1953
the Soviet press reported that some 44,000 items had survived the war,
but up to 1956 no buildings were available for the museum and many
items in its collection were ruined for lack of proper storage
facilities. In 1957 the museum was finally given a new building, and
work on restoring its exhibits was begun; however, items unfavorable to
the Soviet Union were removed and anti-German items were featured.
There
were also museums in the following municipalities: Tauragė (founded in
1937); Telšiai (1932); Ukmergė (1933); Utena (1935); and Zarasai
(1932). The last two were heavily damaged in 1941 and 1944. Their
buildings were damaged by artillery fire and their collections suffered
heavy looting, especially the numismatic collection at Zarasai.
Besides
the societies and museums that have been mentioned, a Jewish
ethnographic society, with substantial collections of its own,
functioned in Kaunas from 1922 and had chapters throughout Lithuania.
In 1941 some of its material was transferred to the Cultural Museum;
the rest was destroyed by the Germans or carried away to Frankfurt am
Main. In 1943 the material in the Cultural Museum suffered the same
fate.
When Vilnius was returned to Lithuania in 1939, the
museums in that city and the surrounding area were merged into the
Lithuanian network. In Vilnius were located the prehistoric and
ethnographic museum of the University of Vilnius and the museums of the
Lithuanian Society of Science and the Polish Friends of Science
Society. The area also contained a Jewish museum with a large library,
a Byelorussian museum and a Karai-mian museum. During the first Soviet
occupation there was a reorganization of all museums, and the three
former museums were placed under the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences
while the three national museums remained independent. In August, 1941,
the Jewish museum and its library were totally destroyed by German
authorities.