American Lithuanian Cultural Archives or ALKA ( lt, Amerikos lietuvių kultūros archyvai) is located at 37 Mary Crest Drive in

Putnam, Connecticut Putnam is a town in Windham County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 9,224 at the 2020 census. History Putnam, originally known as Aspinock, then part of Killingly, is a New England mill town incorporated in 1855. Created from se ...

next to the convent of the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is dedicated to the preservation of

Lithuanian culture Culture of Lithuania combines an indigenous heritage, represented by the unique Lithuanian language, with Nordic cultural aspects and Christian traditions resulting from historical ties with Poland. Although linguistic resemblances represent st ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. ALKA comprises a museum, a library and the archives. It is maintained by the

Lithuanian Catholic Academy of Science Lithuanian Catholic Academy of Science ( lt, Lietuvių katalikų mokslo akademija or LKMA) is an academic organization (academy of sciences) established in 1922 in Kaunas, Lithuania. It unites Catholic scientists from various fields, from humaniti ...

History

The history of ALKA is traced to 1922 when

Catholic priest The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the Holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in layman's terms ''priest'' refers only ...

Pranciškus Mykolas Juras (Francis M. Juras) began collecting Lithuanian books and periodicals at his parish in Lawrence, Massachusetts. He also collected Lithuanian art and crafts, including samples of weaving and knitting, national folk costumes, jewelry, wood carvings, and various implements and utensils. As the collection grew, it moved to the offices of the newspaper ''Darbininkas'' in

South Boston South Boston is a densely populated neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, located south and east of the Fort Point Channel and abutting Dorchester Bay. South Boston, colloquially known as Southie, has undergone several demographic transformat ...

in 1935. ALKA was officially established in 1941. When the newspaper moved to

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

in 1951, the collection temporarily moved to a garage of the Lithuanian convent in

Brockton, Massachusetts Brockton is a city in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States; the population is 105,643 as of the 2020 United States Census. Along with Plymouth, Massachusetts, Plymouth, it is one of the two county seats of ...

. In 1963, using his personal funds, Juras built a small house in Putnam, CT and moved his collection there. In 1973, Juras officially sold his collection for the symbolic $1 to the

and ALKA became its subsidiary. The collection continued to grow and it became necessary to expand its modest premises. In 1978–1981, an extension with a basement was built bringing the total area to .

Collections

Museum

The ALKA museum houses artwork by over 40

Lithuanian American Lithuanian Americans refers to American citizens and residents who are Lithuanian and were born in Lithuania, or are of Lithuanian descent. New Philadelphia, Pennsylvania has the largest percentage of Lithuanian Americans (20.8%) in the United ...

artists, including Adomas Galdikas,

Adomas Varnas Adomas Varnas (January 1, 1879 in Joniškis, Lithuania – July 19, 1979 in Chicago, United States) was a prominent Lithuanian painter, photographer A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''grap ...

, Kazys Varnelis, Viktoras Vizgirda, Romas Viesulas, Vytautas Ignas, Jadvyga Paukštienė, Antanas Petrikonis, Bronius Murinas and Vytautas Kasiulis; collections of wood carvings by Končius, Motuza and others; old photographs of significant events in American Lithuanian history; medals of societies dating from the second half of the 19th century; textiles with Lithuanian designs; several items exhibited in the Lithuanian pavilion at the

1939 New York World's Fair The 1939–40 New York World's Fair was a world's fair held at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York, United States. It was the second-most expensive American world's fair of all time, exceeded only by St. Louis's Louisiana Purchas ...

, including sculptures by Robertas Antinis and Vytautas Kašuba as well as artwork by

Mstislav Dobuzhinsky Mstislav Valerianovich Dobuzhinsky or Dobujinsky ( lt, Mstislavas Dobužinskis, August 14, 1875, Novgorod – November 20, 1957, New York City) was a Russian and Lithuanian artist noted for his cityscapes conveying the explosive growth and decay ...

, Petras Kalpokas, Adomas Smetona, and Adomas Galdikas.

Library

The ALKA library contains over 30,000 books about topics of interest to Lithuanians, or written by Lithuanians; over 1,000 Lithuanian periodicals dating from 1883 to the present; old and rare books (the oldest being ''Tabellen zur Übersicht der Geschichte aller europäischen Länder und Staaten'' by C. Kruse, published in 1802); calendars dating from the late 19th century to the present; prayerbooks dating from 1859 to the present (some with dedications). In 2012, the library joined LIBIS (Lithuanian Integral Information System of Libraries).

Leaders

ALKA was chaired by: *Alfonsas Stankaitis (1973–1984) *Juozas Kriaučiūnas (1984–2000) *Juozas Rygelis (2000–2010) *Mirga Girniuvienė (since May 2010)

References

External links

Official ALKA site
{{authority control Archives in the United States Putnam, Connecticut Non-profit organizations based in Connecticut Lithuanian-American culture Lithuanian-American history