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This paper presents a collection of manuscript heritage which is kept at the Department of Rare Books, Collections and Manuscripts of the Klaipeda University Library. At present, a total of 8 funds are already formed there. They are: Ansas Lymantas (f. 1), Kazys Pemkus (f. 2). Villus Peteraitis (f. 3), Ieva Jankute (f. 5), Vytau-tas Strolia (f. 8), and others: score manuscripts (f. 4), single documents (f. 7), musicians in exile (f. 6). The collections of A. Lymantas (f. 1) and K. Pemkus (f. 2) could be regarded as the best analyzed ones. The content of the personal ar-chives (K. Pemkus collection, f. 2), heritage of manuscripts in the archives of Lithuania Minor and the briefly described material placed in oth-er collections and funds of the Department are reviewed in the paper. There are several groups of archives in the collection of K. Pemkus (a well-known bib-liophile and therapist in exile): manuscripts of writers and linguists; historians; therapists; pedagogues; lawyers; artists; public figures; priests, etc. There are presented original texts (manuscripts and typescripts), corrections of texts, translations, notes, original letters or their copies, iconography, scraps about their creative work, personalities, programs of literary events, invitations and other small printings. The fund (f. 2) of Ansas Lymantas (represen-tative of the press, journalist, a former citizen of Klaipeda), containing documents of organiza-tions of Lithuania Minor in exile, materials of the „Lietuvos pajūris" newspaper, biographical and public work documents is reviewed in more detail. The content of such funds as these of Villus Peteraitis (a public figure, lexicologist, KU doc-tor of Honour), Ieva Jankute (a granddaughter of the well-known "Aušra" publisher Martynas Jankus), musician Vytautas Strolia, score manu-scripts, musicians in exile, and the fund of single documents are briefly described. Information about this heritage could be found at the web site of the Department of Rare Books, Collections and Manuscripts at the Klaipeda University Library's home page: http://www.ku.lt/libr/structure/retu.php [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a brief overview of the archival materials concerning the Society of the Sci-ence and Art Museum (1907-1914), Society of the Library of Eustachy and Emily Wroblewski (1912-1922), Society of Eustachy and Emily Wroblewski Science Fund (1922-1939) and Society of Wroblewski Library Friends (1936-- 1939) is presented. These materials are kept in the Wroblewski Library of the Lithuanian Acad-emy of Sciences. The first one of the mentioned above societies gathered a valuable collection of rare printed matter and archival documents (the remaining part is kept now in the Wroblewski Li-brary of the Lithuanian Academy of Science); the other three societies have taken part in founding the library and in the proliferation of its funds. After an overview of archival sources, a con-clusion is made that the archival material con-cerning various societies that acted in Vilnius in the first half of the 20th century are of the same character. The majority of them are statutes of the societies, lists of members, the minutes of meetings, activities and financial reports, cash books, statements of inspections and various of-ficial papers. These documents enable to restore in essence the circumstances of founding these societies and the main features of their activities. Very valuable is the material in the Manuscript section concerning famous personalities of these societies: Lucjan Uzieblo, member of the Vil-nius Society of Science and Art Museum, and Tadeusz Wroblewski, the founder of Eustachy and Emily Wroblewski Library. The material comprises their personal documents, scientific certificates, letters, notes, manuscripts, death certificates, obituaries. All this archival material is important not only for the history knowledge of the mentioned societies; it is significant also for the knowledge of the cultural and scientific life in Vilnius of the first half of the 20th cen-tury; therefore, it is necessary to preserve it as an important documentary heritage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper identifies the already digitized and publicly accessible online manuscript heritage collections (websites) in Lithuania. The object of research was the quality of digitized manuscript heritage collections, i.e. any manuscripts collections, archives, sets presented in the form of a website, published and publicly available on the Internet. A correlation among good practice standards and international recommendations is analyzed. The analysis is based on the MINERVA quality principles for cultural heritage sites. It is concluded that the weakness of the Lithuanian websites is their maintaining and continuity, their strong sides being the quality of technological execution. The current situation is stated (compilers of current projects, the published and publicly available collections) and recommendations for the future projects are formulated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As far back as at the beginning of the 20th century, the book historian V. Biržiška noted that in the 15th century, GDL manuscript books not only did not disappear, but also expanded their repertoire. On the basis of the latest historical research and sources, the article aims to describe and assess the historical conditions, social and cultural processes that led to the manuscript book development, spread and functioning. The article bases its conclusions on the information from surviving manuscript books and archival sources. The paper analyses the phenomena that had a direct impact on the development of the book: the Christianization of the land, aspiration for the reunion of churches, the establishment and development of the sovereign estate and chancellery, the beginning of education. Thus, the history of GDL manuscript books is closely related to the first half of the 14th c. The establishment and development of the sovereign estate and the institutions of the Catholic Church contributed to the dissemination and functioning of Latin books. Due to teaching, writing culture was mastered throughout the country; the group of literate people, who wrote and read not only in Latin but also in Ruthenian grew rapidly. After the incorporation of Ruthenian lands, the GDL sought for a reunion of the churches. Creation of the Kiev metropolis with the center in Naugardukas, as well as the political, religious and cultural activities of the Orthodox metropolitan bishop led to the formation of the original manuscript book in the GDL. There appeard a group of persons (both Lithuanians and Ruthenians) who did intellectual work and had cultural needs. They not only became the main users of manuscript books, but also were their creators; they initiated and patronized writing books. In the GDL, New Latin and Ruthenian writing centers were established, and the repertoire of books expanded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]