The archive of the historic American Lithuanian newspaper “Draugas” will be preserved at the VMU Library

“Draugas” – the oldest Lithuanian newspaper, published without interruption outside the borders of the Republic of Lithuania since 1909.

Historians consider this archive to be one of the most important sources recording the life of Lithuanians in the United States, and its role was particularly significant during the Soviet occupation, when “Draugas” contributed to the dissemination of the ideas of Lithuanian independence. Although large part of the publications is digitized, the preservation of the physical archive has great symbolic and moral value.

To preserve the extremely important historical heritage of the Lithuanian diaspora, “Draugas” Council, in cooperation with the Institute of Lithuanian Diaspora of VMU, proposed to donate the archive to VMU library. The transferred archive consists of 157 volumes, covering the period from 1958 to 2017.

The newspaper was founded and published by the “Unity of Lithuanian Roman Catholic Priests of America”, its first editors were priests Vincas Vizgirda and Kazimieras Urbonavičius. The newspaper was published as a weekly in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, until 1916, and in 1912 its publication was moved to Chicago. From 1919, the newspaper was published by the Marijonai Order, and in 1941 the Lithuanian Catholic Press Society took over the publishing. Among the most famous editors of the newspaper who contributed to its formation were Petras Tumasonis (who edited it in 1916–1940) and V. J. Bagdanavičius (1951–1958).

Since its inception, “Draugas” has become important issue to the Lithuanian American community. The newspaper not only informed about Catholic attitudes and the activities of the diaspora, but also actively contributed to the preservation of national identity and culture. In cooperation with the most prominent authors, scientists and artists of the diaspora, the cultural supplement “Science, Art, Literature” has been published since 1949. It has become one of the most important platforms for the dissemination of Lithuanian culture and science in the diaspora. The supplement extensively describes the cultural activities of the Lithuanian diaspora in America and elsewhere, publishes works of fiction, and works by prominent Lithuanian and diaspora scientists.